The Annals of Darkness: Cornerstones
by Shire Folk
Summary: Part V. Returning to the Realm of Light after their ordeals in the Tower of Trials, a confident Sora and his friends launch themselves into a race against Maleficent to find the Cornerstones, powerful artifacts that can swing the balance of power in their war. But as they move towards a final showdown, a revived enigmatic Xehanort and even gods influence them from the sidelines.
1. Radiant Garden I

_Wow, it's been a long time hasn't it?_

 _Okay, from the top. This part takes place after the eventual final conclusion to_ Tower of Trials _. That means that there are many events that happened that haven't been written out at the time of writing this, and lots of things that you_ _ **will**_ _be confused about. Don't worry, those events will be written, eventually, and posted to_ Tower of Trials _._

 _Because so much stuff happened in the last two, I'm going to forgo doing what I did at the start of_ Light's Growth _(formerly_ The War _) and_ A Week of Troubles _(former_ The War _) in giving a summary of events of the prior volumes. It's a dick move, I know, but it's a lot of material to try to sift through for a complete summary. So, in substitution, I'll present their current mission critical goals before the beginning of The Battle for Radiant Garden._

 _1.) Find the Cornerstones and prevent Maleficent from gaining their power;  
2.) Defeat the allies/cronies of Maleficent that she has infused with her power; and  
3.) Put a stop to the sorceress and her armies._

 _Alright? Everybody good? Okay, without further ado, let's get this show back on the road!_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _Shire Folk does not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or any other licensed works that are used within this work of fiction._

 ** _Note:_** _I would also like to give a big shout out to **fuzzynavaljewelry** who has been assisting me as my go-to grammar Nazi, editor, and consultant; and **Shadow Horizons** , my long-time pre-reader and ideas bouncer._

-A-D-

 **The Annals of Darkness**

 **Part V: Cornerstones**

Chapter 1: Radiant Garden I

 _1402hrs, Sunday, December 7th, 1671, Radiant Garden Reckoning  
1402hrs, Sunday, 2003-12-07, Destiny Islands Reckoning  
Northern Wall, Radiant Garden_

Yuna spun around, breathing heavily as her weapon came forward across her body, striking at the sword arm of an Armoured Knight Heartless. It blocked her weapon's stroke, its pointed feet sliding back less than a centimetre on the stone ramparts of Radiant Garden's northern walls before halting. Its balance was unaffected, but Yuna attacked again, lifting the other weapon she held in her left hand and pulling the trigger twice. The Heartless jerked backwards as the bullets from her sidearm struck it in the shoulder, and that momentary distraction was all she needed to bring the weapon in her right hand under its guard and stab at its chest. It wasn't enough to break its armour, but it felt the blow, stepping away from her. Again and again Yuna stabbed, slashed, and shot at the Heartless with her weapons, until finally she was able to get the one she held in her right hand through its armour. The Heartless struggled for another second or so, before Yuna yanked the protruding wing of her sword back, aggravating the wound she'd inflicted, and pushed forward one more time.

It vanished in a puff of black smoke, its heart rising bright and pink into the dark sky, freed by the power of the Gullwing Keyblade she held.

 _That's another one_ , Yuna thought, panting. _How do Sora and the others make fighting with this thing look so easy?_

"Yuna." She looked up, seeing Paine fending off another pair of the Armoured Knights that had just leapt off ladders onto the ramparts. "Could use a hand here." Her friend was tiring, her sword strokes sluggish and weak compared to how they'd been several hours ago. Paine gasped as one of the swords of the Armoured Knights slid off her sword and cut her arm.

Yuna grit her teeth, mustering up her energy, and pointed her pistol at the two Heartless. She fired several shots while a United Forces soldier pushed the ladder away from the wall. One of the pair fell back under the force of her rounds, allowing Paine to focus her full attentions on the second, and Yuna charged at the first. It staggered around, trying to get into a favourable position, but Yuna was too sudden, and the point of her Keyblade pushed the Heartless back into the crenelations. Caught with unyielding stone at its back, the Gullwing drove through its armour and ended it. Paine drove the sword arm of the second Armoured Knight up high and kicked it in the chest, knocking it over. She shouted, "Yuna, now!" The weary mocha-haired member of the Gullwings reacted quickly, delivering a coup-de-gras on the fallen Heartless with her Keyblade.

"There's no end to this," Paine said, grasping at her bleeding arm. She'd already exhausted her supplies of potions. Yuna stood from her kneeling position over where the Heartless had been and forced Paine to remove her hand so she could examine the cut. Not for the first time, she was glad of the time she spent on her Pilgrimage, healing and bandaging the wounds she and her Guardians received.

"It's not serious. C'mon, we'll have to bandage that," Yuna told her quickly. She was just starting to reach for a bandage when she saw something pop up behind Paine. "Look out!"

Paine ducked, but it wasn't necessary. Just as the Shadow's claws were about to strike her, Rikku came in out of nowhere, stabbing the Shadow in the side of the head with her red daggers. "Rikku," Yuna said, surprised. "I thought you went—!"

"Don't worry, Yunie!" Rikku answered. "I got him out of here. He's being looked after at the castle. Man, ever since those Hero guys went back to where they came from, these Heartless have just been impossible to deal with!"

"Yeah, where did they go anyway?" Yuna sighed and nodded her head as she started to bandage Paine's arm while Rikku acted as lookout. The Heartless were attracted to her because of her new Keyblade. She was putting them in danger, but still they were staying with her. It was just like how her journey to stop Sin had placed her Guardians into danger, but like then her friends were here of their own will. Nothing she said would make them abandon her.

"We'll just have to keep fighting," Yuna said, though there wasn't much effort in her words. She was tired. "We'll have to keep fighting until Sora and the others return, for Selphie's and Tidus' sakes as much as our own."

"Yunie…" Rikku said softly, gazing sadly at her cousin. She'd been there when the three of them drove Lexai off the walls, but it hadn't gone very well.

Yuna's outfit glowed brightly in the gloom, the young woman switching from her Gunslinger dressphere into another that she had been in only a couple of hours before. The Songstress dressphere had given strength to those six Keyblade Wielders when they'd fought against the Decimator. Maybe now, Yuna hoped, maybe now it would give all of them the strength to hold out until those six could return to them.

" _Shadows fall, and hope has fled;  
Steel your heart, the dawn will come.  
The night is long, and the path is dark.  
Look to the sky, for one day soon  
The dawn will come."_

Light came from Rikku's and Paine's clothes as they came to stand next to Yuna, joining her in song. Slowly, those who heard them joined their own voices with theirs, this common hymn known across the worlds, and as they neared its end, it was echoing across the plain.

" _The shepherd's lost, and his home is far.  
Keep to the stars, the dawn will come.  
The night is long, and the path is dark.  
Look to the sky, for one day soon  
The dawn will come._

 _Bare your blade, and raise it high.  
Stand your ground, the dawn will come.  
The night is long, and the path is dark.  
Look to the sky, for one day soon  
The dawn will come."_

Just as the last notes of their final word's echoes faded into silence, the darkness that had covered the sky was punctured by a bright light, quickly spreading overhead, and suddenly several blue meteors streaked through the initial hole in the darkness that had blanketed them. Yuna rushed to the edge of the crenelations of the wall just as the first rays of sunshine she'd seen all day struck her face, and she looked at the place where those meteors struck the ground. What they'd been carrying seemed small at this distance, but even so… even so she could tell.

"Sora!"

-A-D-

 _In Tower_

Far away from the conflict, but in another way right next to it via a swirling massive portal of green light, stood a number of people. It was an eclectic group. Ages varied from a toddler to the prime of adult life, several were not even human, and many of them were armoured and kitted out for battle. The entirety of the group was made up of twenty humanoids and several others, all amassed together in the top floor of a twelve-storey stone tower, going over last minute preparations before storming through the portal.

One of the armoured men was crouched down, speaking to the child, and instructing her that she needed to stay brave and close to her mother at all times, repeating it two times until the child nodded her head. He gave her a tight hug that lasted longer than he'd originally intended, before letting go and standing. He gave the woman standing next to the toddler a long, intimate kiss and a hug that lasted even longer, both of them making the other promise to stay safe, before donning his helmet that completely covered his face.

The leader of the group turned to one of the others, a woman in a brilliant suit of armour: vermillion, gold, and white all coming together perfectly along with her white cloak, bordered in gold and crimson with a black stylized wolf head in the centre. All of them were wearing similar white cloaks, though the colours that edged them were different. "How's the leg?"

"Leg's doing fine; thanks for asking," she answered, fingering the gold-wrapped hilt of her sheathed sword. "Those gnomes were geniuses, modelling it perfectly after your arm."

"Well, they did get a lot of experience with it when they lengthened it for me," he replied. "Better still see Winry, though, when this day is over." The woman nodded her helmeted head. Another woman came up to the two of them, fully armoured in a form-fitting suit of coloured plates and mail that she wore like it weighed next to nothing, with her white cloak edged in blue and silver.

"I think we're as ready as we're going to be, my lord," she said to the man. He nodded his head and unsheathed his sword from its sheath, a long gently curving moon-silver blade with three thin golden lines running down it to converge in the golden centre of a silver seven-pointed star that emerged from the blade near the tip. Its hilt was a basket of shining bronze, and it had an oak-coloured rubbery grip of shark belly skin. The base of the pommel was a brilliant blue tourmaline gemstone, and dangling from a short chain beside the ring the pommel stone was set into was a silver three-pointed crown. The whole blade shone slightly, but the sound of the magic steel leaving its scabbard quieted the group.

"Fearless Wolves," he declared, his voice loud and clear, "my friends, today you are about to fight something the likes of which none of you have ever seen before, and I cannot thank you enough for your courage to answer the selfish request we made to come with us into battle. None of you have seen the Heartless before firsthand, but by this day's end you'll have seen enough of them to last a lifetime, and if you want to return home to Olomund after today we will harbour no hard feelings and we will gladly grant your desire. However, the place we're going to is the realm my friends and I call home, and if you wish to stay longer to help us defend them and return peace to our home, we would be eternally grateful."

He bowed his head, quickly followed by five others.

"Are ye kidding?" a short, stocky woman in the form-fitting plate asked. "This'll be an adventure the likes o' which we'd never even dreamed of."

"You might as well accept it," one of the others told him, "we're coming with you whether you like it or not. Leave Olomund in the care of the ones staying behind."

"You guys…" he whispered, sounding emotional underneath his helmet. He shook his head, then, and straightened up. "Alright then! As soon as we're through we're probably going to be right in the thick of the enemy, a long way away from anyone friendly on the other side. We keep close and move as one until we make the gates. Nobody runs off on their own, got it?" He waited for nods. "Right. Group One goes through on my mark. No matter what, we'll clear the area immediately around the portal's exit. Thirty seconds after we're through, Group Two follows to assist us. Group Three comes fifteen seconds after that, and a full minute later Group Four moves through the portal. By then we'll have secured the area, and we'll begin cutting our path through until we reach the gates. Once there all non-combatants will seek shelter, we'll evaluate the overall situation, regroup, and redeploy as the situation demands. Everybody understand?" He was met by nods.

"Good!" Out of a flash of light and into his left hand appeared a massive tower shield of an orange-golden colour, a shield everyone assembled knew he had named Aegis, and it had earned that mythic name time and time again in his hands. He raised his sword, the Keyblade called Remembrance, as the rest of the warriors of the gathering bared their weapons. A small hawk landed on his shoulder while a girlish-looking air elemental hovered in the air behind him with a determined expression on her face. "Group One! Five seconds on my mark! Four! Three! Two! One! GO!"

He charged through, followed by four other armoured humans bearing Keyblades, two small birds, the air elemental, a tiny fire elemental in the shape of a dragon, a hissing snake, and a black cat that calmly padded along after them without a care.

Once through, the man found himself falling through the air, surrounded by a cone of cyan light like a shooting star. His companions were in a similar situation, all of them shooting towards a mass of black beneath them. The sky around them was lit, the sun already midway through its westward march in the southern half of the sky.

"I don't get it!" one of them shouted, completely unperturbed by them falling through the sky. "When we left it was completely dark!"

"The darkness felt strange to you guys too, right?" another answered. "That blackness in front of us must be the source of it. Maleficent's allies did something to keep the skies dark."

"Then we'll just have to break it up!" the leader said. He readied his Keyblade, but one of the women shouted at him.

"Sora! I can hear them singing!"

"What?"

"Listen!"

He paused, straining his ears, and over the whipping of his cloak in the air he could hear that she was right. A hymn was rising through the darkness and the clouds to greet their return.

 _Bare your blade, and raise it high.  
Stand your ground, the dawn will come._

"Kairi," Sora spoke urgently as they rapidly approached the darkness, "let's bring them their long-awaited dawn." She nodded, raising her sword of fire above her head.

 _The night is long, and the path is dark.  
Look to the sky, for one day soon  
The dawn will come._

With a great cry, light that had been pooling around their Keyblades surged forth as they slashed them at the dark bank, but before theirs struck a different streak of orange-gold beat theirs to the punch, and a hole was punched all the way through until they could see the ground beneath them teeming with Heartless. The hole in the darkness quickly spread as they sped through it, unveiling the blue sky behind them and letting the light of the sun touch the battlefield for the first time that day.

They hit the ground hard, but completely unharmed. Looking up, their second group was already on the way down, and the Heartless that hadn't been squashed by their landing were now eyeing them with surprise, caught off-guard by the appearance of five Keyblade Wielders in their midst.

Sora eyed Riku for a moment, the latter shrugging with a hidden smirk, uncaring for having stolen his friend's thunder, before Sora refocused his attention. He didn't need sound to hear Riku gloat, "The _Dawn_ is coming."

"Attack!" Sora shouted, launching himself at the nearest foe.

"For Athena!"

"Aiwemon digivolve to, Ohtarmon!"

"Ohtarmon digivolve to, MaltaOhtarmon!"

"Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!"

"Soronmon digivolve to, Thorondomon!"

Two powerful monstrous warriors now stood beside the humans and the familiars of three of them, joining in the fray with their own special skills. One of the women finished a spell incantation, and all of the surrounding snow whirled to her location. It clumped together, forming itself into an eight-foot tall vaguely humanoid mass.

"Destroy all our enemies within a thirty metre radius of right here!" Naminé ordered, and then turned towards a front that was being slightly neglected. "Ice Make, Tiger!" From out of her hands burst a vicious, massive tiger made entirely of glittering ice, roaring as it charged towards the Heartless that were trying to get around MaltaOhtarmon to get at her. She didn't even spare a glance at her ice tiger as it started to tear the Heartless apart with its teeth and claws. Instead, Naminé found her attention drawn to a contingent of Air Pirates, Rapid Thrusters, and Wyvern Heartless that were heading towards their descending reinforcements.

"My lord!" she shouted, pointing. "2 o'clock high!" Sora, after having stabbed an Armoured Knight in the chest and sending an electric burst from the tip of his Keyblade into every Heartless within three metres of it, defeating them all, looked up at where Naminé was indicating.

"MaltaOhtarmon, cover me!" Sora shouted as he swiftly sheathed his Keyblade and clicked a button on the shield's grip. "Naminé, help me get their attention!" He released his hold on his shield and it stayed exactly where he'd been holding it when he clicked the button. Naminé nodded, pointed her Keyblade up into the sky, and spoke a command word. Instantly a volley of magic missiles stormed out of the point of Nobody's Pride, heading for the lead Heartless. They smashed into the Wyvern, taking it down with a cry, but it was just one Heartless out of over a hundred heading on an intercept for their descending friends.

She heard the twang of a bow, and saw a glowing arrow that Sora had fired arcing into the sky and smiting an Air Pirate right in the neck. She barely heard the second thrum of the bowstring, only a couple seconds after the first, or the third two seconds after that, but she saw the arrows finding their targets, and making the Heartless vanish in puffs of smoke with glowing pink hearts.

 _I'm not that good with a bow,_ Naminé thought while Sora continued to fire at a rapid pace, _and I don't want to use a charge recklessly, but the power of the Moon should be sufficient in wiping them out!_

"Moon's Cannon!" she shouted, directing the face of her shield towards the sky. The large kite shield's face lit up with opal light, and surged up into the air in an expanding beam of moonlight. The Heartless that had been heading towards their descending friends were bathed in the moonlight and immediately obliterated. Dozens of little pink crystalline hearts floated in the sky, and the blue comets bearing the first wave of their friends hit the ground.

"I could have done with a warning about that drop!" Melbil chastised as the dwarf drew her Keyblade from its scabbard.

"Oh? What happened to that spirit of adventure of yours?" Jastra wondered, drawing her own Keyblade.

"It remained in the tower before I fell a thousand feet," Melbil grumbled. She slammed her Keyblade on the ground, and tremors went through the earth before great spikes of rock shot up underneath Heartless that were on their way to the ring of Keyblade Wielders. Jenny Clover was already casting her spells, putting Heartless to sleep or destroying them with magic, and Jastra had already advanced towards the front, slicing at their foes with her own Keyblade.

Sora glanced back after putting his bow away and taking up Remembrance again. It was good to see those three in action along with Roxas, who'd also dropped; the first three who'd joined their little pack of wolves also being the first three to have gained Keyblades of their own. Group three was already on its way down, but the sky was clear of the Heartless that had tried to intercept the comets.

A sound entered his ears then, a sound that brought him to overflowing with pride and vigor. Horns, trumpets, and cheers all coming from the direction of the wall, with the horn of Gondor chief among them. He snatched up his shield, pressing the button on the grip again, and raised his Keyblade in the direction of the wall. The cheers grew louder and more defined, the people lining them somehow able to see his gesture. Kairi's signature Skyfyre spell was obliterating Heartless, and Naminé's ice creatures were very effectively doing their jobs. She'd just added another one to the mix, an ice girallon: a savage gorilla-like creature that was eight feet tall with four arms, and it was rending Heartless limb from limb.

Group Three landed, adding three more to their number, and though only one of these three Wolves wielded a Keyblade it didn't deter the other two in the slightest. One smiled readily, extended her great white wings and bore a fiery flambard in her hands as she shot towards an Invisible with the speed of an arrow, the light of the flames on the wavy sword reflecting off her marble white skin. The Invisible barely blocked her first stroke, but lost its serrated greatsword in the process. She spun around, slapping the Invisible and several Heartless with her wings and stunning them with the suddenness and strength of the blow, before cutting them down with a single swipe of her blade.

"We have this, Sora!" Jenny shouted. "If you just want us to hold here, that's going to be pretty easy by the look of things."

"Don't underestimate the Heartless," Riku advised her. "Most of these guys are just the grunts, but even they can be a problem if you're not careful."

Sora nodded his head in agreement with Riku's statement and backed up a few steps as Naminé's newly made ice owlbear barreled up to where he was to begin fighting the Heartless with the others. Between it, the tiger, the animated snow monster, and the girallon, oh, and now the familiar gryphon added to the mix, Naminé's creations were taking up the brunt of the heavy work. Kairi and Jenny were adding ranged support with spellcasting, and Yuffie had created a dozen shadow clones to manage the gaps. In just a short time they'd already cleared out the area within a sixty metre diameter circle around where they'd landed.

"Alright," Sora called. "We've secured the landing zone, and ahead of schedule." He turned his Keyblade towards a few Heartless that had just slipped past a shadow clone and blasted them away with a trio of firebolts. Yuffie created another dozen shadow clones to bolster the outer line keeping them out. "Group up and keep the skies clear for Group Four when they come down."

"They should be starting their descent in a few seconds," Riku said, looking up at the sky. He looked towards the gate, still many hundreds of metres away. "We're still going to need to clear a path through that, though."

"I have a few ideas," Sora answered him, "and Naminé also has a trick she wants to try out. Isn't that right, Naminé?"

"You said it, my lord!" Naminé called, turning to look at him. Even with their faces completely concealed, it was easy to tell that they were smiling at each other. "Would you like me to begin preparations?"

"Rock, Paper, Scissors with Kairi to see whether we perform Double Trouble or you get to go ahead and try it out."

"Double Trouble?" Riku asked, confused. "Wait…" he restarted, chuckling, "you don't mean _that_ Limit again!?" Sora laughed. He and Riku watched as the two sisters went through thirteen quick rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors, tying each time, until Kairi finally emerged as the victor.

"Yes!" Kairi declared with a fist pump. "Alright, Naminé, one question."

"Shoot."

"Why a girallon?"

Naminé held her hand up to placate her sister. "Okay, I know that's a bit touchy for you, Kairi, but you have to admit that they're really effective at what they do."

"Oh, I know firsthand at how effective they are," Kairi agreed. "It's just really, really uncomfortable for me to be seeing one of your creatures take that shape when it was a girallon that ripped my leg off and _ate_ it right in front of me."

"They're coming down," Roxas announced.

"And I'm really sorry that we didn't make it down there in time to prevent that," Naminé apologized, not for the first time.

Kairi waved it off. "Don't worry about it. It'll be a story to tell my kids about someday, and one to tell Selphie later today when we meet up again." Kairi raised her sword of fire, with the keychain for Crowning Flame curiously dangling from the weapon that looked nothing like that Keyblade, and pointed it behind her. A Flash Arrow of Light emerged from the fiery blade, streaking through the air and blasting a hole through the head of a Neoshadow Heartless that was leaping for Naminé's ice tiger.

Group Four landed, some of them piled on the cart they'd brought along with supplies, and others in front. The toddler was laughing and giggling in excitement from the ride down, securely in the lap of one of her 'aunties' on the cart. Sora watched as the girl's father quickly double checked that she was fine. He received a nod, nodded back, and turned to his girlfriend. "Kairi! Let's go!"

"Absolutely, Sora," Kairi agreed, striding next to him as they faced the enemy before the gates. The flames that made up her sword flared, growing three times their size until it appeared as though Kairi was carrying a sword-shaped inferno attached to a hilt. "These Heartless had better prepare for trouble."

"And make it double," Sora added, Remembrance suddenly becoming enveloped by a whirlwind that raced with a tempest of lightning strikes. Before anyone could blink, the two had used Flash Step to close the distance between them and the Heartless. Both of them began advancing, never once pausing or faltering as they presented the Heartless with an overwhelming offence that offered no openings. Fire, wind, and lightning surged out from their weapons, cutting down Heartless that weren't even near where their swords were cutting or shields bashing.

"To protect the worlds from devastation," Kairi recited, her flaming sword buried to the hilt into the bodies of three Armoured Knights that all made the unfortunate mistake of standing behind each other.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," added Sora, slashing Remembrance down across his body while simultaneously ramming Aegis through a Shadow. Wind and lightning sluiced off his Keyblade like water, cutting through and blasting apart an Assault Rider that had emerged.

Kairi pointed her weapon forward, arresting her advance and securing a steady position as her bolts of fire now shot out of her sword. "To announce the wonders of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!" continued Sora, mirroring Kairi's stance and mixing whirlwind blasts of wind magic with her firebolts, extending each into deadly lances of fire that even looked as though they were being borne by charging knights on horseback made of the wind. The lances were not slowed or diminished by anything they encountered in their path, going forward nearly thirty metres before fizzling out and dissipating in sparks and slight breezes, leaving only trails of floating hearts in their wake.

"Kairi."

"Sora."

Kairi held her sword aloft, and the fire that made it flared even higher. A raging sword-shaped conflagration rose to the height of a tall spruce tree out of the golden hilt of her blade, casting its light and heat all around. "Team Keyblade blast off at the speed of light!"

Meanwhile, Sora had lifted Remembrance above his own head, and showing great dexterity and the efforts of considerable practice he was spinning it horizontally above his head in just his right hand. The wind and lightning that had been coating his blade like a thick insulation of fibreglass swelled and grew above him into a raging tornado. Lightning flashed inside the tornado's gales, and the fire from Kairi's sword was pulled into it and raced throughout the tornado, turning it into a firestorm cyclone that reached high into the sky as Sora shouted, "Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

He unleashed the Inferno Tempest, and nothing stood in its wake as it roared with unbelievable volume towards the gates. It cleared the path, sucking in Heartless from all over and destroying them utterly; they burned to ashes under the heat of the flames, were cut to confetti by the hurricane winds within the cyclone, or were blasted into oblivion by thick bolts of lightning.

When the towering inferno extinguished itself, just ten metres away from the gates, an entire swath of the battlefield, more than twenty-five metres in diameter, was cleared for the Keyblade Wielders to advance to the gate.

Sora and Kairi, smiling underneath their helmets, leaned back-to-back against each other with their heads turned towards the destruction their Limit had wrought, and Wispy leapt up from beside them to place her head between theirs. _"That's right!"_ she giggled in her breezy language of air elementals, joining the words the other two spoke.

Kairi turned to look behind her. " _Plato! You should really join us when we do that!_ "

" _I respectfully refuse, my Queen."_

"Alright everyone!" Sora shouted, waving his Keyblade forward. "To the gates!"

"Make your dreams reality, Sehanine."

There was a flash of light, and Naminé's Keyblade was replaced by the staff that was its unsealed form. She twirled it around once before rapping it against the stone ground with an ominous _doom_. At once the sides of the empty corridor Sora and Kairi's Limit had given them and the exterior of the perimeter they'd established around the landing zone cracked and broke apart, the stones falling into a bottomless chasm that opened up beneath them. Jenny summoned up a horse to pull the cart, and they all started to move now that the ground-based Heartless were unable to reach them.

Sora put away Remembrance and Aegis, and again pulled his bow out from a bag at his hip, drew an arrow from the same bag, and nocked it on the bowstring. He kept an eye out for aerial Heartless on their way to attack, but none seemed eager to get close this time. "They've stopped," Kairi commented aloud.

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "And the last time they did this, something bad happened, but I don't remember what."

"Not even that," Kairi added, "but they're pulling back."

There was cheering and shouting from the walls as the procession reached where Sora and Kairi were standing with their familiars, the two Ultimate-level digimon and Naminé's ice creations and animated snow monster forming an honour guard around the cart and those around it. The Heartless were retreating away from the wall, falling to the hail of spells and missiles being launched from the defenders until they got out of range.

"Where are the Septem?" Riku asked, Sora matching his stride so that the three of them were walking at the front. "We've pretty openly declared that we're back, so why aren't they coming for us?"

"If we're lucky we've startled them," Sora said. "They've probably pulled themselves back along with their Heartless and are debating their next move, now that we've thrown a wrench in whatever plan they'd been concocting since we vanished. How much time has passed?"

"Two hours, eleven minutes, and several seconds, my lord," Naminé answered, increasing her pace to catch them. "We were gone three years to the day, and at twelve thousand times conversion rate that's what it works out to."

"A lot can happen in two hours," Kairi said. She glanced back at the people behind them. "But not as much as can occur in three years."

"Tell me about it," Riku chuckled. Sora snorted to himself.

"That's right. You need to tell Leon that he's now something like your brother-in-law."

"I'll let Yuffie tell him that we're married now," Riku muttered, glancing back at his beloved ninja wife as she walked beside the horse pulling the cart. "I think he'll go easier on her than he will on me."

"I'm sure everything will be fine if you show him the pictures Jiminy managed to take," Naminé advised him with a comforting tone. "I've never seen Yuffie so happy as she was that midsummer's day after the King's Challenge."

They were getting close to the gates now, the massive doors only thirty metres away, and Kairi looked at the path around them with the chasms separating them from the Heartless. "Naminé, how did you do that?"

"It's just an illusion," she answered her sister. "Right now it's got the Heartless fooled, so don't do anything to break it until we're inside." She struck Sehanine on the ground again with another reverberating _doom_ , and the ground seemed to fall away as the illusory chasms opened up in a shell around the walls in front of the gates, linking up with their cleared corridor to the gates to make an unbroken line of bottomless chasms. The Heartless that had stayed right in front of the gates that hadn't been destroyed by the twister of flame or retreated with the rest charged towards them, but Kairi raised her sword of fire towards them and spoke a single word. A tiny bead of red light emerged from her sword and sped towards the cluster of armoured knights.

"Kairi…"

"Don't worry, we're just out of range."

The bead miraculously missed each of the Heartless, and then exploded into a fireball some ten feet behind them, the fireball's blast spanning a full thirty feet in all directions and, true to Kairi's words, stopping _just_ short of licking at their armour. The Heartless, though, were completely consumed by the spell.

"Nicely done," Sora said with a nod. "Though you still worry me with how much you like that spell."

"It's _fireball,_ Sora," Kairi answered with a bit of a laugh. "You'd think that that spell was made for me." They made the gates and found them still closed, even though the army on the walls was cheering loudly at their return, and bearing the marks of having endured assault. Kairi lifted her head and raised her voice to be heard above the din. "By the order of Kairi Talerith, Princess Royal of Radiant Garden, I demand entry into the city for myself and my party!"

"You heard the Princess! Open the gates!"

The gates began to creak open, and at the same time as they did Naminé turned around to face the horde of Heartless just outside of her illusory chasms, or at least the ones that weren't still in range to be threatened with being destroyed by the rain of spells and arrows coming from the walls as they retreated. She rapped Sehanine on the ground one last time with a thunderous _doom_ , and time seemed to run in reverse on the chasms. The gaps in the rock sealed closed, the rocks flying up from the endless darkness of the earth to settle once more into what appeared to be solid ground. "Go," she commanded, and at once her ice creatures and animated snow monster charged towards the retreating Heartless, not to rest until all of the Heartless or they themselves were destroyed.

The gates finished opening, and two dozen mounted persons on chocobos came through them. Those from Olomund reacted with a little bit of surprise at the sight of the large riding canaries, but the natives watched and stayed ready as the riders took up flanking positions on either side of their cart. Through the gate then strode an anthropomorphic mouse and two men, all of whom were familiar to the natives of the Realm of Light.

"Your Majesty," Sora said, nodding at the mouse. "Chief Guardian, General."

"Is that you, Sora?" King Mickey asked. Sora nodded again at the mouse monarch. "Gosh. Ya seem taller than before Xokor sucked you all into that light. What happened to ya?"

"This is not the time or place to discuss that," Sora answered, taking off his helmet. The others took off their helmets too, and the King, Garda, and General Berger all showed looks of surprise. Sora glanced up at the hovering sphere cam that was absolutely broadcasting their return for the entire city to see. He had no idea if it was also sending out sound, but he didn't want everyone to be hearing everything as well. They could already see his face and those of the others now, so without a doubt they'd know that they truly were back. "What's the situation? We have been gone from here for about two and a quarter hours, right?"

General Berger, Garda, and King Mickey all glanced at each other before answering. "That is about right," Garda replied. "Let's get inside the walls first, though," he said, motioning with his hand, "we'll discuss everything then."

"Alright," Sora agreed. Sora looked back at his friends. "Okay Wolves. Kairi, Roxas, Jenny, Kal, and Shina, I want you five with the cart to the castle. Kairi, you can show Beth and the others where they can go to keep themselves and Iroviel safe, then I want the five of you back here pronto."

"Done and done, Sora," Kairi said. She glanced at Jenny, who nodded her head from the front of the cart while Lady Puff yowled next to her, and they all began following their escort through the gates.

"We've got a field command post set up over here," Garda said, pointing to a large tent that had been erected on the craggy field behind the secondary wall. "They were hitting the wall hard after you all vanished, so the top of the gatehouse became too dangerous for us to assemble at." Sora nodded his head, understanding that things really couldn't have been easy on them for the last little while.

"What about the new Wielders that were made just before Xokor attacked us?" Sora asked.

"They were a big help," Mickey answered, his tone grim, "but they also became big targets for the Heartless and the Eximius Septem since they were complete novices to using the Keyblade. I'm sorry, Sora, but they took casualties; we lost some."

Sora felt a sharp pain in his chest at the news and bowed his head for a moment. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. We should have gotten back sooner."

"Don't blame yourself for that, Sora," Garda told him firmly. "They fell holding the wall and gates, and we still hold thanks to them. You've given us breathing room and a chance to rest just by coming back, so don't devalue their sacrifice."

"Forgive me, Chief Guardian," Sora answered. "I jus—"

"Stop that train of thought, Sora," Garda interrupted him. "It was out of your hands, but you're here now, and that's what counts." Sora nodded his head at the man who had first taught his girlfriend to fight, and looked sideways at Riku.

"Riku, I'm going to use it. After I have, take Yuffie and go find all the surviving new Keyblade Wielders and tell them not to be afraid and to answer the summons. I'll speak to them when we're done." Riku nodded in understanding.

They had just reached the tent when a tall man pushed a flap aside and strode out of it. His long, tall spikes of crimson hair and teal triangular tattoos near his eyes easily identified him, and Lea ecstatically ran up to Roxas and the cart as soon as he caught the blond's eye. "Roxas! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"

"Great to see you, Lea!" Roxas answered, clapping him on the shoulder, and now standing almost as tall as him. "I see that you're still alive and kicking."

"Yeah, those Heartless won't get me, got it memorized?" Lea replied. "What happened to you? You got taller, and grew a beard. C'mon, man. Let me in on it. What kinds of crazy shit happened to you after that creepy light—"

"Lea, stop," Roxas told him firmly, glancing back at the cart. "Do _not_ swear in front of my daughter."

Lea fell dead silent and stopped in his tracks. Not just him, even, but so too did Mickey, Garda, and General Berger. More people were coming out of the tent, and Sora could make out the old Radiant Garden gang chiefly amongst them.

Sora slowed to a stop and took in a deep breath as they quickly came within earshot. _Well, here we go._

"Huh!?" Lea cried. " _D-daughter!?_ What are you talking about, Roxas?"

Leon and the others froze in place, obviously hearing Lea's outburst.

 _Roxas,_ Sora mentally instructed his former Nobody, _only a quick introduction now. You can give a bigger one later._

 _Alright._

Roxas extracted himself from Lea and hopped onto the cart, where he took a seat next to the toddler and the woman sitting next to her. "Lea, there are a couple of people I'd like you to meet." He smiled at the woman and took her hand as well as placing the toddler in his lap before returning his gaze to his old friend. "This is my wife, Shina Starbrow, and our daughter, Iroviel."

"Jenny, do _not_ stop the cart," Kairi whispered from where she was walking briskly next to the horse. "Keep on driving."

"W-wife? What?" Lea asked vacantly, looking into the beautiful face of the elf maiden without comprehension.

She smiled at him beneath her long, braided, silver hair, decorated in beads of gold and precious gems; and her silver-grey eyes flecked with gold sparkled with inner delight. "Charmed to meet you, Ser Lea," she said, voice light and stealing Lea's breath away. "I have heard many things about you from my husband's lips. I look forward to getting better acquainted at our next meeting, and hope that it shall be longer than the present one."

Jenny Clover drove the cart off towards the castle, leaving many people stunned in their boots while Sora and his company of Fearless Wolves stood silently in the awkward air. Many seconds passed before Sora coughed to break the silence, sniffed in the cold wintry air, and gestured to the tent. "Shall we have that briefing, then?"

Lea rounded on him. "Sora! What the hell? Why are you just standing there like nothing's wrong?"

Sora took in a deep breath and met Lea's eyes. "Look, Lea. It may have only been a couple of hours for you all, but we were gone for three years. Three years, Lea. My niece turns two in a month. As far as I'm concerned, nothing _is_ wrong, and our reality is just something that you'll have to learn to live with."

"But...but for Roxas to have had a kid! And for it not to have been with—" Lea stopped himself, his eyes now staring at Naminé with fear in them. She wasn't showing any reaction at all to his words.

The young woman in question closed her eyes and spoke loudly. "How Roxas chooses to live his life is up to him. If that means taking responsibility for something that happened between him and Shina instead of running away from it, then I support him in his decision. Now then, as my lord reminded you, you were all about to brief us on the current situation, correct?"

Her own words caused whispers to go throughout the assembled people they'd left behind.

"Did you hear that?"

"She said 'my lord'. Did she mean Sora?"

"What's happened to them?"

Sora ignored the whispers and turned instead to the open area outside of the tent. Though he had since put the arrow away, he still held his bow in his left gauntlet, and now drew Remembrance from its sheath once again. He pointed it at the air above the ground, and a great bullet of light shot out of his Keyblade, causing a gust of wind to ripple around the area. The bullet splashed apart in the air as if it had struck a solid wall, and suddenly there was an image of the Kingdom Key's unsealed form, Cosmos, floating in the air and shining brightly. Everyone present with a Keyblade felt a sudden tug in their hearts; they felt an urge to be near to the image that spewed forth light all around it.

Turning to his two married friends, Sora said, "Riku, Yuffie, find them; tell them to come." They nodded their heads and rushed off, away from the tent and towards the walls. Sora turned back to King Mickey. "Your Majesty, before we start the briefing, actually there's something I'd like to ask of you, but you're not going to like it."

"What is it, Sora?" Mickey asked. The mouse glanced at the beacon shining behind Sora and shook his head. "Naw, I shouldn't be calling ya by your name so casually like that. What do you need, Grandmaster?"

Sora was startled at the title for only a second, but managed to control his features so that it didn't show. Naminé whispered a few words under her breath, and the floating sphere cam dropped to the ground, inert. Sora nodded his head at her, approving. If this went south, he did not need everyone in the city to see it happen. "As I understand it, the Keyblade that came to you is the Star Seeker, and after you got the Reverse Kingdom Key from the Realm of Darkness, you left the Star Seeker's keychain with Master Yen Sid, and have been carrying the Reverse Kingdom Key ever since, right?"

"Uh-huh. That's right," said Mickey, nodding his head and summoning the Keyblade with the golden shaft to his right hand. Sora put his bow away in the bag at his hip, and pulled out the Star Seeker's keychain with his left hand.

"Please give me the Reverse Kingdom Key, Your Majesty."

King Mickey frowned, and Sora could tell that most of that frown was from confusion at his request. "Why do ya want me to do that?"

Sora met Mickey's eyes with a steely, unwavering resolve. "Because I found out that you didn't just 'find' that Keyblade, Your Majesty. You took it; and its master wants it back."

-A-D-

 _And I'm back everybody! I hope you all enjoy this new journey of theirs._

 _Also, as you all know, I can be sporadic with updates. This time I'd like to stick to a release schedule of at least one chapter a month. I know that that means that this will take a while to get through if I keep to that and don't go any faster, but I feel it will be better in the long run if you all have knowledge that you'll be getting something AoD related from me once a month and possibly more._

 _Please drop a review and leave comments and discussion on the_ Annals of Darkness _Facebook group, and don't be afraid to check out and edit the TV Tropes page as well!_

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


	2. Radiant Garden II

_Here we are with another month and another chapter, which promises to answer some questions, partially answer some questions, tease answers to questions, and provide more questions!_

 _Thanks again to the wonderful_ _ **fuzzynavaljewelry**_ _and_ _ **Shadow Horizons**_ _for their assistance in proofreading, editing, and advising!_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or any other works used or referenced in this series. This is purely for entertainment value and no money was made in its production._

-A-D-

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter 2: Radiant Garden II

Kairi sighed and leaned back while walking next to the cart. The cold air was nipping at her nose and eyelashes, and her heart could feel the tug of Sora's summons; it was the summons of the Grandmaster, calling all Keyblade Wielders on world to congregate together. Sora had warned them beforehand that he'd most likely use it, and by now the other Keyblade Wielders of the Fearless Wolves would be standing openly underneath the beacon. She sighed again and shook her head, forcing herself to ignore the calling, and her eyes set upon Roxas, Shina, and Iroviel.

It had been nearly two years since Shina Starbrow came to become a permanent member of their band, and Kairi still wasn't sure exactly where her feelings sat regarding her 'sister-in-law'. Now, she and Sora hadn't even become betrothed yet, let alone formally tied the knot like Riku and Yuffie or Roxas and Shina had, but that was just a trivial formality. Kairi had already regarded Roxas as a brother for a while now. As far as Shina was concerned, though, Kairi personally liked her. She was enviously gorgeous, intelligent, a deft sorceress, a kind, caring, noble person and good mother to her child. That was something Kairi hadn't initially thought of the former princess, due to her hedonistic tendencies that showed in her behaviour which, Kairi was loth to admit but grudgingly did, were also occasionally present in her own. However, her charm and charismatic ability to turn many a conversation her way had made the elf a valuable friend and ally. No, Kairi liked Shina; the root of her uncertainty with the elf lay with the mess her arrival had made of the relationship between Naminé and Roxas.

Most of Kairi's information on that murky quagmire didn't even come from her sister, but was learned second-hand through Sora. Try though she might to get her once-Nobody to open up and express her feelings to her, Shina's arrival with Roxas' infant daughter in tow had driven a wedge between Roxas and Naminé that her sister refused to discuss with her and moved Naminé closer to the man she'd sworn her service to, even more so after Roxas had married the mother of his child. Naminé was rarely seen very far from her lord's company these days and, though Kairi knew there was nothing romantic going on between her boyfriend and sister, it still stung that Naminé would pick Sora to be her relationship confidant instead of her. It wasn't as though they didn't talk to each other, they did, but Naminé didn't _talk_ to Kairi anymore.

Her eyes still drawn to the trio, Iroviel looking around at the blue cliffs of Radiant Garden in curious fascination and adorably pointing out the "bwu woks" to her parents multiple times, Kairi almost missed Jenny speaking to her. "So… he really is a mouse."

"Huh?"

"Your friend, the king you and the others had talked about. You'd said he was a mouse, but I guess I'd never really believed it until I saw him."

"Oh," Kairi replied, realizing what Jenny was talking about. "Oh, yeah, King Mickey is a mouse."

"What still surprised me was that if you take away the big round ears, I'm taller than him!" Kal spoke cheerfully from the other side of the cart, the halfling swordsman evidently bearing a smile while he jogged to keep pace. "And I don't get to say that about a lot of people."

"I think I don't need to be telling you of all people not to judge him by his size, though," Kairi said.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Kal answered. "He's strong. I can tell."

"However, I think that brief meeting with your friend, Lea, went quite well," Jenny added, turning to Roxas, "all things considered." She adjusted her glasses while Kairi laughed suddenly.

"I know I really shouldn't, but, the look on his face when you said wife and daughter was _priceless_!" Kairi chortled. "I mean, to him and all the others we've only been gone for a couple of hours, and for us to then return with Roxas having a kid in tow? Lea's face made it all worth it!"

"Alright, Kai, you made your point," Roxas said, a bit of humour present in his tone. "It was a bit funny to pull a fast one on Lea, but I still don't want him saying things like that in front of Iroviel." He glanced down at the toddler he was holding steady on his lap and bounced her a little.

"Still, he did seem overjoyed to see your safe return," Shina told him, "so I do think you could stand to be nice when we return to the battle."

"Don't worry; I'll be nice," Roxas assured her, giving her a fond smile. Roxas gave Shina a quick kiss on her lips, which she reciprocated.

"I'm glad you weren't hurt," Shina said. "Sora was right. The Heartless are certainly different from anything else I've seen."

"Yeah, they're nasty pieces of work," Roxas agreed. "I'm just happy you weren't hurt either, and that we got the route clear before Iroviel came down to us." He looked down at the little half-elf nestled against his chest in thick furs to keep her protected from the cold and pointed. "See that, Iroviel? That's your auntie Kairi's castle."

"Kaiwi's?" she asked. She then looked at the redhead and pointed at the big stone building. "Kaiwi? That's your cassle?" Kairi hopped onto the cart and sat next to the girl she called her niece.

"Yep. That's mine and your auntie Naminé's," Kairi explained. "It belongs to both of us."

"Both?" Iroviel asked. Kairi nodded.

"That's right, both," Kairi told her. "But can you keep a secret? You can't tell anyone, okay?" Iroviel was silent. "Not Mommy, not Daddy, not Uncle Sora, and not Auntie Naminé." Iroviel nodded her head after a few seconds, and Kairi leaned in close and whispered in a voice that sounded like a whisper, but was still loud enough for the others to hear. "I'm going to give it to Auntie Naminé as a present soon."

Iroviel's eyes went wide and opened her mouth, but Kairi placed her finger over her lips and said, "Shh! Remember, it's a _secret_." What she said was true, in a sense. It was an open secret amongst them that Kairi was planning on stepping aside so that both she and Naminé could fulfill their personal aspirations, but Radiant Garden didn't know that yet.

Iroviel nodded her head again, and then seemed to notice that her breath was leaving her mouth in visible clouds and started to wave her tiny hand into it, trying to catch the wisps of water vapour.

"The castle will be warm, right ma'am?" asked Louise, one of their four employed servants that had volunteered to come along for the ride. She was shuffling in her furs, not used to the sudden cold the shift in setting had done to her system. Kairi sympathized with the eighteen year-old woman. She hated the cold too; that was one of the many reasons she was giving up her throne. It was a small reason, but it still held some weight.

"The castle will be warm. Kensworth will have seen to that. He's the castle steward. You'll want to see him about arranging for our baggage. Helia is the head cook." Kairi turned to Beth. "I imagine you'll be wanting to see her first."

"Naturally," the eldest of the human women they'd saved from Ixenmiirik agreed. "We'll have to begin preparations for the Fearless Wolves' victory feast immediately."

"Make sure you outdo yourselves, and work hard with Helia," Kairi instructed. "We're going to have a lot of hungry soldiers to feed and they deserve a good meal."

"Of course, Lady Kairi," Beth answered.

They reached the castle a few minutes later. There was a buzz of activity around it, and rightly so due to its importance. Though the commanders and majority of the soldiers were stationed at the wall, a throng of people in uniform and armour were entering and leaving the keep, bypassing or, in some cases when their business left them no other choice, forcing their way through a press of people that had gathered near the gates.

"Shit," Kairi said when she spotted those at the gates, earning an admonishment from Roxas she really could care less about at the moment. "The press is here."

"The press?" Jenny asked.

"Reporters," Kairi answered. When her companions still seemed flummoxed, Kairi briefly explained that their business was to learn of events of importance or interest, discover the details and facts of each story to the best of their ability while ensuring the accuracy of said facts, and inform the public of their occurrence and significance.

"So these reporters are the criers of your world?" Shina clarified.

"Not exactly," Kairi said. "See those bulky things on the shoulders of some of them and the long sticks with the thick padding on one end? Those are sphere cameras and… I'm not exactly sure what the booms are really called, but together they're devices which can record and transmit images and sound back to their news station, which in turn transmits those same images and sounds to spherevision sets across the city with a slight delay. Um… imagine them like permanent scrying devices that can be activated and deactivated at will, with hundreds or thousands of other devices that can see and hear what they're 'scrying.' So there are thousands of people miles away who could have clairvoyance and clairaudience of what's in front of those people with the cameras right now. Oh crap, they've noticed us."

Ignoring the looks of amazement on the features of the others, Kairi turned to Roxas as reporters and camera crews shouted her name and abandoned their positions by the gate to rush into the courtyard. "You are not to say a word to any reporter who asks you questions. Do you understand me, Roxas? Not a word. I'll do all the talking. Also, don't make any indication that Iroviel is your daughter and Shina your wife."

"Now why would I let them in on that little secret?" Roxas brightly asked with very noticeable sarcasm. "Don't worry Kairi, I'm not about to cause a sudden scandal for Naminé the instant we get back. We only went over this a million times."

"Good." Kairi nodded her head.

"I still love her, you know," Roxas added in a quiet voice. "I never stopped." Kairi sighed and shook her head.

"Neither has Naminé, which is why I still haven't been able to wrap my head around your relationship." She groaned, dramatically massaging her temples, and then turned to Roxas' wife. "I'm sorry, Shina. You're a good friend and I like you, it's just…"

"No, no, I understand," Shina replied, sadly smiling at the young woman and inclining her head. "Don't worry, though. It will all work out somehow."

Kairi laughed. "Sora's unending optimism is infectious, it seems. Alright. You all keep quiet and don't answer any probing questions and get to the keep. I'll handle the press."

With that, Kairi hopped off the cart and quickly moved to intercept the reporters, trying to ignore the camera flashes and sort out the jumble of questions already being thrown at her from ten feet away. Kairi took a steadying breath before beginning to speak. "Everyone, everyone, please settle down for a moment." She gestured with her hands for them to be still and they obeyed, quieting so as to hear her speak. "I only have a few minutes to spare at the moment to answer your questions before I have to assess the state of things within the keep and return to the battle, so I'll answer what I can now and we will schedule a town hall interview session in the coming days to satisfy your curiosity. I will now be taking questions, so please state them as I call upon you. Yes, you."

"Miranda Styles, _Daily News_ , Your Highness. Princess Kairi, just now you mentioned a town hall interview session. Can you give us a date?"

"That has yet to be determined. We just returned, after all, and we have a battle to win first. Next question please."

"Brian Thistle, Your Highness, _Radiant Chronicle_. All of us watching saw the green light that sucked you away after the defeat of the monstrous Heartless. What happened to you and where did you go?"

"That's a very long story that can be told at length during our interview session, but the short version is that we were transported to another realm where we spent three years overcoming various trials before we were permitted to return."

" _THREE YEARS!?_ "

Kairi nodded. "Yes, three years. Though to all of you two hours ago I was but sixteen years of age, I return to you now at nineteen and far stronger physically, mentally, and magically than I was when I left. The same is true of all six of us. Next question."

"Peter Sawbuck, Your Highness, from GBN News. Who are the companions that have been seen with you since your return?"

"Fearless Wolves; trusted friends of ours from the adventuring company we formed due to necessity and circumstance in our three years away. Specifically they are Jenny Clover, Melbil Primegild, Jastra Mistmyrr, Shina Starbrow and her daughter Iroviel, Jared Watcher, Sylla Padfoot, Lotte Harpon, Kal Tusslewick, Asha Solamnus, Beth Martin, Rosaline Pike, Louise Foster, and Alisha Gardner. That's not including our digimon partners or familiars."

"A quick follow-up, Your Highness, if I may. Will the persons you just named be present at the town hall interview?"

"Yes. Next question. Yes?"

"Herald News Media, James Gruyere, Your Highness. What happened to your Keyblade?"

Kairi glanced at her weapon, noting that the sword of fire was still in her hand and recalling that it did look very different from how Crowning Flame had looked before. "It is still my Keyblade, Crowning Flame. However, magic happened and it now has the form of a sword made completely out of fire, barring the hilt. As you can see, the keychain is still the same. I only have time for one more question and then I must go. Yes, Mr. Brian Thistle. I'll give you the last one."

"Thank you, Your Highness. Perhaps the most pressing question of all right now is this: do you believe we can win?"

Kairi gave him a confident smile. "I don't know whether you're referring to this battle or the war, but the answer is the same. I don't simply believe that we can; I _know_ that we can. We'll be doing everything we can to harass, harry, and push back against Maleficent and her allies. We'll fight on land and in the Lanes Between; in strongholds and open fields. We will be relentless in our hunt and we will be successful and achieve victory. If what happened on Felra, on the island that had been my home for most of my life, taught us anything, it's that without victory there can be no survival! And we will survive! We have long, promising, and hopefully happy lives ahead of us, as do countless thousands of other souls in this realm, and we intend to have them survive to live them! No further questions."

Kairi sheathed her flaming Keyblade and spun away from the gathering of the press, flaring her cloak out behind her so all could clearly see the wolf's head emblazoned upon the white field. None tried to stop her or ask any further questions, but those who were working for the spherevision networks quickly turned back to face their camera crews and the newspaper reporters began exchanging notes with one another. Kairi ignored them, knowing that she'd have to tell Sora what she'd said and arrange for the interview herself. They'd discussed it a little, but she figured that this would be the best way to keep the press off their backs for a few days. Someone emerged from the castle, rushing straight towards her, and Kairi could tell from the wide-brimmed pointy hat that it was Jenny.

"Kairi!" she called urgently. "We've got wounded in here. They could use your help." She nodded her head, agreeing with her instantly.

"Lead the way."

-A-D-

The tension in the air between Sora and King Mickey was so thick it could be cut with a knife. The King was staring at Sora, his eyes narrowed slightly and his tail silently swishing back and forth very slowly.

"Where did you hear that?" Mickey asked. "I haven't even told Master Yen Sid about what happened in the Realm of Darkness."

"So you did take it," Sora stated. He held the Star Seeker's keychain out towards the king. "Please Your Majesty, give me the Reverse Kingdom Key and take back the one that chose you."

"What did yah mean when yah said its master wants it back, Sora?" Mickey inquired, his grip tightening on the Keyblade in his hand.

Sora noted the renewed usage of his name as opposed to "Grandmaster", but still kept his voice level. "Exactly what I said, Your Majesty. You took the Keyblade in your hand from its master, and its master wants it returned. I'd like to fulfill that person's wish."

The King's grip on his weapon tightened even more. "I'm sorry, Grandmaster," he answered, perhaps recognizing Sora's continued method of address and resolving to return to the respectful title with which he'd already decided Sora had earned, "but letting this go back into the hands of a Wielder from the Realm of Darkness is something I can't allow. This is the weapon your counterpart held for centuries. It led the charge against us in the Keyblade War. Your predecessor was slain by this Keyblade, and you want it to return to the hands of the new leader of the Wielders of the Realm of Darkness?"

"That's about right," Sora said, finally cracking a smile and loosening his shoulders. King Mickey understood what he was asking of him. Good. Mickey, for his part, was flustered at Sora's sudden attitude change.

"But...but why? Why would you want to return it to our enemy?"

"Because she's my friend."

Mickey stared at him, dumbfounded, while Sora cheekily rose to his full height and leaned back, swaying side-to-side with his hands behind his head. A soundless, questioning "huh" was clearly passing through the mouse monarch's mind.

Sora dropped his hands to his side again but didn't drop his smile. "Your Majesty, the others will be here soon and we don't need to let them see us arguing. Shall we move this discussion to the tent?" Mickey nodded his head, and slowly started to make his way back to where they had initially been going, the wheels in his head turning. Sora turned to Jared, who incidentally bore no Keyblade, and asked him to keep things in order until Riku returned while he, Naminé, and Melbil went into the tent. Jared nodded, and the three Wolves followed the mouse into the command tent.

The circular canvas tent was large enough to hold many people within, and many were already waiting around a long wooden table that had been placed in the centre of the tent. Sora recognized many of them, though their names returned to him slowly, as it had been three years since he'd last seen any of them and some he'd been acquainted with only briefly. Their name tags helped where his memory failed him, though. Already gathered around the table were Donald and Goofy, General Berger from Twilight Town, General Solomon of the GDI, Colonel Mustang and his adjutant Lieutenant Hawkeye from Amestris, General Howell of the country of Osea, Chief Vitalstatistix with Asterix and the druid Getafix, Glorfindel of Rivendell, Prince Rurik of Ascalon with a woman in azure robes and a patterned cape he didn't recognize at all, Lord Ovan Ramius, and Garda and Prince Alexander of his own world. Including King Mickey, Sora himself, and Melbil and Naminé, that brought the number for the war council at the table to twenty; twenty-two once Leon and Tifa squeezed their way in. Lea didn't re-enter, instead staying outside of the tent, huddled in his Organization cloak and lost in his own thoughts.

Within seconds he was clobbered by flying tackles from Donald and Goofy as they shouted in joy, his old friends glomping him to the ground in tight hugs.

"Ye couldn't avoid that, Sora?" Melbil asked with a gruff chuckle.

"Not couldn't," Sora corrected her, smiling widely at his friends' affections, "but didn't want to. It's alright, guys. I'm alright."

"Aw, I knew you'd be alright, Sora," Goofy said, pulling back from the hug and helping Sora stand up again, "but that didn't stop me from worryin' or nuthin'. Gawrsh, what happened to yah? Yer taller than me now, a-hyuk!"

"And a beard?" Donald asked, tapping his webbed foot on the ground. "I didn't think Kairi would let you grow one."

"It took some persuading," Sora explained, a proud smile on his face while he rubbed the goatee that encircled his mouth. He liked his facial hair, and was damn proud of it. Riku couldn't grow a good one; his hair grew in ridiculous patches, and mostly underneath his chin and on his neck.

"But you have to keep it short and neatly trimmed," Naminé reminded him, "else Kairi removes it."

"Yes, well…" Sora coughed and moved to stand at the table with Naminé and Melbil flanking him, while Donald and Goofy rejoined their king. "Before you all brief me, I think you all deserve a quick explanation of what I was asking of his majesty, King Mickey, outside the tent. I wanted his majesty to give me the Reverse Kingdom Key, which he is currently using, so that I can return it to the master it chose and he can return to using the Keyblade that came to him, the Star Seeker."

Asterix leaned forward, interested. "You do realize, Grandmaster—yes I feel the pull, and the only one who can perform that is the Grandmaster of our order—that the last master of that Keyblade led the Wielders from the Realm of Darkness in war against us. To give it back to them would be…"

"A great sign of my friendship with her," Sora answered. At the surprised looks he received, Sora went into his explanation. "After we were sucked into the portal, three years passed for us while only two hours and a bit passed for the rest of you. During that time, I met the Wielder of the Reverse Kingdom Key and her friends, and though we started off as bitter opponents, eventually we became friends as well as rivals. She told me of how, a few years ago, she had been with her friends, protecting their home from an invading race of creatures that they call Lightborne, when a mouse wielding a blue Keyblade covered in stars shouted things she didn't understand at the time at her, challenged her to a duel, and took her Keyblade from her upon beating her before quitting the field. They've since had a rough time trying to save their own Realm."

"Lightborne?" Leon asked. Sora shook his head.

"I've never seen one, but according to them they're creatures of Light, just as the Heartless are creatures of Darkness. They don't act like Heartless though. Even for them in the Realm of Darkness, Heartless are a nuisance at best and a danger to the unwary; they still try to take and corrupt the hearts of the inhabitants, same as here, _and_ there's more of them. The Lightborne, though, they aren't interested in hearts. They are _souls_ , consumed by Light and drunk on its power, and they ravage the Realm of Darkness in a mad quest for more souls to become more powerful, more numerous, and essentially destroy the Realm of Darkness. Even though the Keyblade was made with hearts in mind, instead of souls, and it's a weapon of Light, instead of Darkness, it's surprisingly effective against the Lightborne as well, and is their best hope for survival."

"Forgive me, Sora, but that seems to be their problem, not ours," General Berger said. "We don't need to be giving up a Keyblade, which we need to combat the Heartless, to the successors of those from the Realm of Darkness who waged war on our worlds."

"I say to Hell with the Realm of Darkness," Ovan proposed. "We don't need it messing up our lives anymore."

"Actually, it _is_ our problem, General, Lord Ramius," Naminé stated. "Sora's the Wielder of the Kingdom Key. He's the Master of All; even those in the Realm of Darkness are, in theory, part of his flock, though they traditionally answer to the Wielder of the Reverse Kingdom Key first. Besides, Darkness and Light must be in balance. You can't have one without the other. If the Realm of Darkness were to disappear or be destroyed, consumed in Light, a cataclysmic disaster would befall the Realm of Light as the multiverse itself worked to correct the imbalance. Perhaps a great shadow would fall upon our worlds, an upheaval as Darkness takes root and flourishes despite any and all attempts to stamp it out, and our Realm would become the new Realm of Darkness. Perhaps both Realms would merge together, mixing whatever remained of the Darkness in both Realms into a force that would make even Maleficent's pale in comparison. Simply put, we don't know what would happen if the Realm of Darkness were to be destroyed by the Lightborne, but it would be cataclysmic to the Realm of Light, so it's in our best interest to help them by returning the Keyblade that King Mickey took from them. On a personal note, Sora's not the only one who made friends with them, and I'd like to help too."

"Your Majesty," Sora started again in a diplomatic tone, seeking King Mickey's eyes. "I understand why you did it. You never wanted to see that Keyblade used against us again. But she's not like the Wielders that Xehanort swayed all those years ago. All she wants is to protect the people important to her, just like me. I want to give her back the means to do so. Please, help me out."

The two held eyes for a long time before Mickey looked away, ashamed. "Gosh, I really didn't think it'd be like that," he said. "I had no idea that they were facin' troubles like that." He tossed the Reverse Kingdom Key to Sora, and at the same time as it was in the air, Sora threw up the Star Seeker's keychain. Just as Sora caught hold of the Reverse Kingdom Key, the Star Seeker's keychain vanished and the blade appeared in full in King Mickey's hand. The two Wielders nodded at one another, and Sora lifted the Keyblade in his hand into the air. A swirling mass of Darkness surrounded the space behind his hand, and a hand tentatively reached out. Its owner seemed uncertain, hesitant to grasp the Keyblade offered by Sora as he kept his back turned. It clenched, a decision made, and following the hand a person leapt out, snatching the Reverse Kingdom Key from him and holding it close to the person's chest.

"Sora, thank you," the person said emotionally. "Thank you so much." The person rose, straightening the glasses worn with one hand, before a deep, warm smile filled her face and the hearts of those watching within the room. The portal of darkness had vanished, but she didn't seem to care as she stood on her tiptoes and gave Sora a smooch on his left cheek.

"Hey, Shiki!" Sora chuckled, his cheeks turning pink and arms waving off the shorter black-haired young woman. "Cut it out. You're lucky Kairi's not here."

"Your girlfriend doesn't scare me Sora," the young woman, Shiki, replied. "Besides, you're the one who takes the fall when she catches me." Sora folded his arms, frowning.

"And you're the one who takes the fall when _Neku_ catches you," he said, reminding her of her own love. Shiki held her Keyblade close and crossed her arms, making a pouting face.

"Pfft. As if I'd get in trouble from him for that. In case you forgot, Neku doesn't really care for all the flirty couple stuff, and he's way too secure to get jealous. He'd only get mad if I went too far and actually kissed you or something, but then he'd probably do something to get even. Hm... he _has_ noticed how gorgeous Kairi is, come to think of it. Honestly, why does she have to have red hair, and be a princess? I'm a nobody and mine's nothing but a boring, dull, black."

"Hey, cheer up," Sora told her, giving her half a hug. "Neku likes you for you, and that's ask that should matter." Sora, realizing the personal nature the conversation took, coughed to get himself back on track. He turned to the assembled war council. "Everyone, allow me to introduce the Chosen Wielder of the Reverse Kingdom Key and leader of the Keyblade Wielders of the Realm of Darkness: Shiki Misaki."

As if suddenly realizing just how many people were in the room, Shiki stiffened and blushed at all of the eyes upon her. "H—Hello! My name is Shiki Misaki. I—It's a pleasure to meet all of you!" She quickly bent over at the waist, bowing to all of the assembled members of the war council, and conveniently hiding her face from their bewildered expressions. "I look forward to working together with you in the future!"

There was silence as Shiki bowed to them. The assorted officers and leaders all glanced at one another. Despite their talk of the past Keyblade War, very few had actually experienced it, or met one of the other side's Keyblade Wielders.

"You seem so…"

"...normal?"

Shiki raised her head, blushing and looking away, while Sora and Naminé sighed and shook their heads. "Well, _yeah,_ " Sora answered as if it was obvious. "They're still people like us; they just live in a different place."

"I-I also want to help you guys out," Shiki said. "Sora's told me about the battle that's been going on here, and I'd like to do what I can for today before I return to the Realm of Darkness, as a favour to him for returning my Keyblade, though that can hardly begin to repay him for it."

This time it was Sora who blushed and looked away. "C'mon, Shiki. You've saved my hide at least a few times now. You don't have to feel like you owe me anything."

"But I do!" Shiki insisted, still clutching her Keyblade to her chest. "Getting my Keyblade back means more to me than you can imagine. For what little it's worth, please know that you have my assistance in whatever ways I can provide, Grandmaster! My life, my sword, even my body if it weren't reserved for Neku I'll gladly pledge them to you."

"Wh- what!?"

"Actually… I think I could give my body to my shining knight now…"

" _What!?_ "

"Sora you dog," Naminé teased with a grin. "Cozying up to your counterpart are we? You're a smooth criminal."

"Can't you see she's just fooling around?" Sora refuted. Shiki stuck out her tongue and pranced backwards.

"All kidding aside," she said, turning back towards the table. "I did mean what I said. I will help you and the Master of the Kingdom Key here as best as I can, both today and in the future. He's not just my theoretical boss; he's my friend, so I'll be there for him."

"Exactly," Sora said, regaining control of his facial features. "So, now that all of that is out of the way, I officially request an update on all that's happened since we vanished."

"Right," King Mickey said, starting to lead. "Let's start at the beginning…"

-A-D-

"They have returned."

Nixion was the one who had spoken. The other six of the Eximius Septum, Maleficent's seven Nobody commanders, were gathered around him; as were their chief aides and underlings. Nixion turned his eyes towards Xokor, frowning slightly. "I believe you told us that they would no longer be an issue."

"I set them a very difficult trial," Xokor answered. "It appears that they were more capable than I was led to believe. I doubt our Queen will be pleased we could not place them into checkmate before Sora could return."

"Forget that," Lexai interjected. "What are we going to do about it? We couldn't take out all of their new Keyblade buddies and those Ancient Hero farts stopped us cold. Now the brats are back. I say we crank up the heat and roast them on a spit."

"I disagree," Xokor stated. "We do not yet know the extent of their strength. I advise caution in any action we take."

"Nonsense," Xarcs rebutted. "Despite their return, their friends and army are weary and on their last legs. They cannot weather another attack."

Xayn Shu, the Nobody of Shan Yu, nodded his head in agreement with Scar's Nobody. "This fight has taken a toll on their bodies as well as their morale. They may have gotten a boost from Sora's return, but they did witness other Keyblade Wielders fall. They know that their heroes are not invincible."

Sennox shook her head and agreed with Xokor. "That may be, but this _is_ the Keyblade's Chosen One we are talking about. Not only that, but the Wielder Princess of Heart and their friends as well. They cannot be underestimated."

"Nor shall we underestimate them," Nixion said, looking over all of them. "We shall launch one final assault, one that not even the combined efforts of all of their Keyblade Wielders can withstand."

"What do you suggest?" Xokor asked, interested.

Nixion smiled.

-A-D-

"Sora!"

The Keyblade Master looked away from Garda, the Chief Guardian having been speaking before the interruption, to look at the tent entrance. Kairi was standing there, redness around her eyes with fresh tears in them, and an angry look on her face. "Kairi…"

"Permission to lead the counterattack!" Kairi immediately requested.

"Kairi," Naminé said, blinking at the ferocity of her request. From the way she said it, it was much more like a demand. "What's gotten into you?"

"You know how King Mickey told us we lost a few Keyblade Wielders to them while we were away? Lexai killed Selphie!"

Sora felt cold, as if an icy hand had taken hold of his heart and something slimy and freezing was sliding down his neck. "What? Selphie is…? She was?"

"I just found out from Tidus," Kairi answered. She swallowed, catching her breath, even though she didn't seem to be breathing hard despite clearly having run the whole way from the castle to here in full armour. "He'd been chosen by a Keyblade, too, and was injured while we were away. I just saw him in the castle infirmary. He told me. Lexai killed Selphie right in front of him. There's not even a body left to bury; she just vanished into pieces of light." Her voice carried an angry and determined timbre in it as she asked again, "Permission to lead the counterattack?"

The ground quivered beneath their feet before anyone could answer her. "What was that?" Mustang asked, looking down at the rock beneath his boots. The ground rumbled again, and again, and again, all in quick intervals.

"Something big," Garda replied. The meeting was adjourned without words or decision on their next course of action as everyone assembled quit the tent to get a better handle on the situation outside.

The ground was still trembling at a regular pace, but what got the attention of everyone now gathered outside the tent was how much of the army atop the walls was now very quickly abandoning their posts. "What's going on?" Naminé asked.

"Whatever it is, you guys have an army," Shiki stated. "I'm a little jealous."

"Yeah? Well right now that army is in a rout and we don't know why," Sora answered.

That question was answered in short order as a girl with white blonde hair and vivid orange eyes flew straight to Sora. "Master Sora," Dawn said, dropping onto her sandal-clad feet in front of him. "I bring a message from my Wielder and the wifey."

"Go ahead, Dawn."

Dawn pointed out to the wall. "Riku says that while encouraging new Keyblade Wielders to head to the muster point, they saw mass amounts of boss level Heartless leaving the enemy force and beginning to move towards us. These Heartless then merged together into a score of Decimator Heartless. Knowing the danger posed, they then issued the order to retreat from the walls and are assisting in the evacuation. They hope to complete their objective before the Heartless arrive."

Sora nodded. "Thank you, Dawn. Tell them that the army has its officers and NCOs to handle the withdrawal, and that I need them back here five minutes ago." Dawn smiled and nodded, giving an energetic salute, before flying off, presumably back to Riku. Sora grimaced as she left. "A score of Decimators. Lovely."

Naminé shrugged next to him. "Well, now we know why they're running."

"Sora," Leon said, his eyes following the path Dawn took to return to Riku, "what did she mean when she said that?"

"When she said what?" Sora asked. He thought back. "Oh, wifey? Well you know Dawn. She's an incorrigible flirt. It's her term of endearment for her Wielder's love interest." Hoping that brushing it off was enough to convince Leon, though he saw Tifa smirk and raise an eyebrow at him, Sora turned to Kairi. "The others are on their way back?"

"Yes," Kairi answered. "I just ran ahead of them." Sora could see the righteous fury in her eyes, seeking to avenge her best friend's death, and nodded his head.

"You get first dibs," he said. Sora then turned to those from the war council in the tent. "I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds, but I'd like to ask the rest of you to help the regular army with their evacuation. We'll handle the rest."

"You've got to be—"

"We will see to it," Glorfindel said. General Berger stared at the elf lord in amazement, and then saw the Chief Guardian nodding in agreement. "You have changed, young one. Now show us how much. Show us that it is in you that we can place our hope."

The leaders walked away, and Shiki moved closer to Sora. "You know, I'm kind of in awe just looking at him. Do you think we can do it?"

Sora glanced at her and grinned. "Can we do it? Just who the Hell do you think we are?"

"Hm. Touché."

-A-D-

 _And that's chapter two for you, leaving off on a bit of a cliffhanger there and gave you a bit of information and a tease of more to come._

 _I want to thank all of you for sticking with me and for being patient for answers, even though I know I caused your brains to explode a little last time. Until next time!_

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


	3. Radiant Garden III

_I'm giving you this chapter early because Civil War was amazing and I'm feeling generous. You've been waiting for a conclusion to this battle for long enough, anyway._

 _Again, my heartfelt thanks to_ _ **fuzzynavaljewelry**_ _and_ _ **Shadow Horizons**_ _for their assistance in editing, proof-reading, and being sounding boards for me to bounce things off of._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or any other non-original works or characters._

 _ **Note**_ _: If you remember what happened in the last chapter of the battle, something similar takes place here. Feel free to listen along when you get to it._

-A-D-

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter 3: Radiant Garden III

Lexai grinned as she walked towards the gates, watching as one of the Decimators cut the ice witch's gorilla-thing into oblivion with a single stroke of its massive sword. The army atop the walls was running; running away from her and the Heartless like a flock of frightened sheep. They knew what overwhelming might was coming against them. They knew they couldn't stand against the darkness any longer.

"This will be easy," she told Xarcs as the lion Nobody of Scar walked next to her, eager for the kill. "It's just clean-up time now."

"Yes, I rather enjoy running down frightened rabbits," Xarcs replied.

"Do you mind if I take the gate?" Lexai asked. "It's been annoying me for a while now. First there was that Ajax guy stopping us for an hour and a half, and then it was the crazy midget and the big fat guy."

"Be my guest," Xarcs replied, stopping where he was and sitting down. He lazily licked at his paw, barely paying attention as the twenty Decimators formed a single rank behind him. Lexai smirked and walked ahead of him, cracking her knuckles in her purple fingerless gloves while small flames burst into life on the back of her hand.

The soldiers had all fled the walls by the time she reached the gate. Lexai spent a few seconds just looking at it, solidly closed against her. They'd been trying to get to this thing for hours, and while she'd seen the top of the walls and been pushed off of them, finally she had these dumb gates right where she wanted them. Fire gathered up in her right fist as she pulled her arm back, prepping an attack she was sure would break through them.

"Knock knock!" she called, the power building behind her stroke. "Who's there?" She punched the gate, the built-up fire magic exploding on contact with the thick wooden beams. It didn't matter what they were reinforced with or what else anchored them shut, the doors blew apart, shattering into pieces as if they'd been struck by a missile.

"Me," Lexai declared triumphantly as she strode through the broken gates. The army that had been in a panic atop the walls was fleeing past the second ring of them, but Lexai took note of several who were standing their ground, most notably a small group gathered under a glowing image of a Keyblade she vaguely remembered seeing one of them use a few hours ago when they fought the first Decimator, and a solitary figure only a short distance away, standing beside a piece of wreckage from the gate she'd just busted. The figure was covered in vermilion, white, and gold armour with a greathelm seamlessly attached to protect her pretty little head. A Keyblade that seemed to be made of fire was in the right hand, while her other held a large and broad kite shield that bore a field of bright red, bordered and chief indented in gold, and proudly displaying a white dragon charge in its centre.

"Well now," Lexai called as she slowly advanced towards the woman in armour, "don't you look all nice and fancy? Did somebody get all dressed up for me?"

"I'm going to stop you," said her opponent, raising her fiery sword and pointing it at Lexai. The Nobody recognized the voice, and even if she hadn't, only one of the Keyblade twerps would be wearing that much red and be using a weapon that looked to be made of fire.

"Oh? Are you really, Kairi? You and your army haven't managed to do so yet. The best you could do was delay us from busting through your gate until now. We even nearly overran your walls a couple of times, and if it weren't for those Heroes and your new bunch of Keyblade bearers, we'd have already won."

"But you haven't yet," Kairi answered sternly, "and by the grace of Athena, I'll make sure that this is the farthest you go."

Lexai laughed. "Really? By the grace of _Athena!?_ Calling on your god now to save you? I knew you were a naïve little princess, but this really takes the-"

Lexai found her words interrupted as a fireball exploded around her. She laughed even harder, but grinned wickedly at her opponent. "You idiot! I'm a fire Nobody! Your flames can't hurt me!"

"We'll see," Kairi taunted.

Lexai sneered and rushed out at Kairi, flames covering her fists. "You want fire? I'll show you fire!" She threw a punch at the princess' chest with her right hand while also feigning a strike to her jaw with her left. Kairi blocked both, the first punch with her shield and the feint with the same by smashing it forward into Lexai's fists. Flames burst out of her blocked strikes, directed down to the ground, and Lexai twisted and stepped back to avoid Kairi's countering slash. The annoying, armoured redhead hid herself behind her shield as Lexai launched a few blasts of fire out from her gloves.

"Just give up already!" shouted the copper-haired short woman as she continued to punch blasts of fire out of her gloves at Kairi, keeping her pinned behind her shield. "If all you're going to do is cower behind that shield, then I'm going to beat you in no time, got it memorized?"

"Pitiful," Kairi taunted behind her shield. "Is that really all you have, Flaming Temptress, fifth ranked of the Eximius Septem?"

"Don't look down on me, bitch!" Lexai shouted, calling a column of fire from her hands and blasting it continuously at Kairi, enveloping her in flame. "I'm the fire character now! Not Lea; not you, me! Fire is my portfolio, and I won't let some self-righteous princess tell me otherwise!"

Lexai grinned, not ceasing in her fiery assault. Unlike the last time she had tried this against the princess, Kairi wasn't in that Drive Form that made her all about fire. This time she was just a normal fighter, and Lexai had supreme confidence that she could destroy her. So what if she was a Princess of Heart? Lexai had already critically wounded or killed _four_ Keyblade Wielders. Kairi was nothing!

 _Maybe Maleficent will give me a huge bonus for eliminating her._ Lexai grinned at the thought. Although she couldn't feel anything at the moment, a reward would be nice. Lexai finished her attack, expecting to see a shield turned to ash and a pile of melted metal over the burned remains of her opponent.

What she did not expect was to see Kairi standing there, completely unharmed.

"My turn," Kairi declared. She spoke some words in a language Lexai didn't understand, and then a wave of fire, bright yellow and veering towards blue, rushed for Lexai in a massive cone from the tip of Kairi's fire Keyblade. Lexai grinned at Kairi's foolishness. The last time they'd fought her fire hadn't hurt her; it had only irritated the scrapes Lea's chakrams had inflicted. She was practically unharmed at the moment, so there was nothing to be concerned about.

"You fool! I already told you that fire can't hur- FUCK! OW! FU- BURNS! HOT HOT HOT!"

Lexai ran backwards as quickly as she could to get out of the flames, feeling her body burning at the intense heat. Even more than the pain, her mind was numbed by the shock of the fact that fire was burning her...burning _her!_ She quickly patted out the flames that were still licking at her outfit, now in a state of disarray and making her feel the cold winter air for the first time that day, and turned back to face Kairi with a snarl on her lips.

"Bitch. How did you do that? How did you burn me? **TELL ME!** "

Kairi stalked towards her, dropping her shield from her left arm as she went. "Simple, really," Kairi replied, her behaviour and tone revealing that which Lexai couldn't see, a dark look and the taller woman glaring down on her like she was vermin. "You're not immune to fire and you don't absorb its energy. You only resist it. I just have to make my flames hot enough!" She shouted another string of words in a strange tongue while swinging her fire Keyblade down towards Lexai, and a ray of white-blue flames streaked from her sword, raging with the roar of their burning. The front of it looked like a dragon's head, neck, and shoulders, howling as it raced for Lexai.

She tried to dodge it, but her feet fumbled as she backed away and the searing flames enveloped her as the 'dragon' 'bit' her. Lexai screamed in endless pain as wisps of darkness joined with the smoke of the fire, burning her Nobody body. She'd no idea that fire could be so hot; that burning to death could be so painful. Her throat was hoarse from her scream as she fell to her knees and looked forward. She saw the perpetrator standing in front of her, fire sword held up in both her hands, ready to carry out an executioner's will. Her body was already starting to break down; nothing could stop it now.

"You killed my best friend," Kairi told her simply. "For that I can never forgive you, but may you find your heart and be reborn to a life of peace, so you may atone for your service to Maleficent."

"When I called you a bitch," started Lexai. "I meant it in a positive way, like how you're strong, and independent, and really fucking terrifying." Fire covered her right hand that clenched into a tight fist. _"So I'm going to give you a punch to remember me by!"_

Kairi moved faster than Lexai's fading eyes could track. One moment Kairi had been on one side of her, and the next, after she had started her final punch, Kairi was nowhere to be seen. There came one final nauseating sensation of pain, and Lexai's sight went dark.

"My friend's death was enough to remember you."

-A-D-

Yuna was left staring slack-jawed at Kairi's back as Lexai faded away. They'd all worked so hard to push Lexai back from the wall, and Selphie had died and Tidus was wounded doing so, and Kairi eliminated her using the element she _resisted_ just like _that_! A black cloud emerged from Lexai's disintegrating body and immediately took off into the sky. Kairi didn't seem to act, looking up at it only after it was far out of reach.

"Did you see that?" someone muttered within the group of new Keyblade Wielders Yuna was standing with.

A lion's roar came from beyond the gatehouse and Kairi quickly fell back, her shield flying from where she'd dropped it back to her arm. "Tag out," she said, clapping upraised hands with Sora as they traded places, the Wielder named Shiki and Naminé following Sora several steps behind and beside him on either side.

The ground shuddered, and two Decimator Heartless arrived, one on each side of the gatehouse. Between them was Xarcs, the lion Nobody, slowly advancing.

"You've put out the fire," Xarcs shouted, "but now comes the winter of your discontent, nephew!"

"Come at me then, uncle!" challenged Sora. "You've been a blight on the pride for far too long!"

Yuna saw Sora set himself in a defensive stance behind his tower shield, but before the battle between him and Xarcs could be joined her name was called. Yuna turned her head. Kairi had addressed her. "Yuna," repeated Kairi, "I want you, Paine, and Rikku to switch to your Songstress dresspheres again and to sing a song of inspiration. Yuffie, start playing. Roxas, you're going to join them in singing."

"Got it," Yuffie and Roxas said, nodding.

"Riku, you take command of the Wielders here. Asha, lead the Wolves."

"What about ye?" Melbil enquired.

"I'm taking them out," Kairi answered.

Yuna, though she'd been listening to Kairi's conversation with half an ear, followed what she'd been told immediately for a reason she couldn't quite explain. Perhaps it was something in Kairi's voice, but there was an air of authority about her now that hadn't been there when she'd last seen the redhead. No, authority wasn't quite right. Confidence. She was giving her commands confident in herself and confident that they would be followed.

Now changed into her songstress dressphere, and glad once more for the long winter coat that helped stave off the snowy cold her otherwise revealing outfit would have mercilessly subjected her to, Yuna looked forward to where Sora stood a little ahead of her two other Wielders, Xarcs charging towards him now and backed by both Decimators, and did as Kairi said.

She started to sing, Yuffie began to play a violin that Yuna only now noticed she had, and music came from the instruments Paine and Rikku used from their own dresspheres. Roxas' voice joined hers, creating an impactful melody.

" _There's a day when our hearts will be broken;  
When a shadow will cast out the light,  
And our eyes cry a million tears.  
Help won't arrive."_

Sora didn't flinch or budge as Xarcs now charged him, many pounds of muscular lion flesh speeding forward on a course to rip and tear him to shreds. There was no fear in his eyes. What charged him now was but a fallen lion, and he was more than that. Sora pressed a button on the handle of Aegis as he planted it into the ground, and reached into a bag of holding he kept at his waist, keeping his hand hidden from Xarcs' view.

" _There's a day when our courage collapses;  
And our friends turn and leave us behind."  
"Creatures of darkness will triumph;  
The sun won't rise."_

Xarcs snarled and leapt for him, claws outstretched and ready to rake against his armour. He slammed into Sora's shield, ready to bowl him over and begin attacking the prone Keyblade Master; but he could not have anticipated that the shield would not budge, or that Sora wasn't even holding it.

" _When we've lost all hope,  
And succumb to fear.  
And the skies rain blood  
And the end draws near."_

Sora withdrew his hand from the bag of holding, drawing a sword with a shout. He moved to the right side of his immovable shield and ran his sword into Xarcs' flank, pressing a button on the pommel of the hilt after he'd completely buried it into the Nobody. That sword stayed in place, not responding to any of Xarcs' attempts to thrash about.

Sora quickly crossed to Xarcs' other side with an acrobatic flip, drawing Remembrance from its scabbard while also placing his left hand to the Keyblade's hilt and drawing _another_ sword out of it. Still airborne, he stabbed this one down into Xarcs' back, and clicked the button to activate the immovable rod placed into this one's hilt.

" _I may fall."  
"But not like this. It won't be by your hand."  
"I may fall."_

Sora landed as Xarcs lay trapped in front of him, unable to turn, unable to rear; to bring any real strength to bear against him. He held Remembrance up high, shouting, "Roar from beyond the Twilight Veil, Kaze no Raion!"

" _Not this place, not today."  
"I may fall."_

Remembrance's blade melted and flowed back down his arm until it was encased in silver up to his elbow, and the basket hilt that was now coated in the moon-silver and gold metal of the blade morphed into a lion's head with its mouth open wide. It roared and a straight blade of wind emerged from the gaping maw of the lion.

" _Bring it all, it's not enough to take me down."_

Xarcs was but a lion. Sora was more. He was a proud Fearless Wolf with the strength of his pack in his heart and the power of a lion's pride in his sword.

" _I may fall."_

Down Sora slashed, the blade of wind smiting Xarcs' head. He howled in despair as the pain flooded him and his body disintegrated. A cloud of darkness emerged from his vanishing form, and Sora lunged at it with his released Keyblade, muttering the words of a spell he'd learned. Radiant sunlight spewed from his weapon as it stabbed into the dark cloud that was Maleficent's essence, and it was obliterated by the light.

" _There's a place where we'll stand outnumbered;  
Where the wolves and the soul-less will rise.  
In the time of our final moments  
Every dream dies."_

The Decimators now started to move, obeying their instincts to attack now that their local commander directing them was gone. Their swords rose and fell, striking against the centuries old stone walls that had resisted invasion after invasion and even the bombing of the Brotherhood of NOD's Banshee heli bombers. However, even the enchantments that had protected them thus far could not stand against the hulking giants seeking entrance. The gatehouse crumbled beneath the strokes of the two, clearing the way.

" _There's a place where our shields will lay shattered,  
And the fear's all that's left in our hearts."  
"Our strength and our courage have run out.  
We fall apart."_

"Forgive me, Master Sora, Shiki says insincerely in a confident tone," Shiki said in monotone. "But I am going to steal a technique you stole first in order to deal with these pests, Shiki explains, clarifying her prior statement so her badass boss can understand her."

Naminé snorted. "And permit me to deal with the other one, my lord, before Kairi steals the spotlight from us," Naminé added, still holding the staff form of her Keyblade Sehanine in hand. Both young women chanted words to spells while Shiki reached into a pouch and withdrew a silver piece. The song being sung and the music in their ears gave each of them greater strength.

" _When we lose our faith,  
And forsake our friends.  
When the moon is gone  
And we've reached our end."_

Their spells completed at the same time, and they attacked. Shiki flicked her silver coin forward with her thumb, and lightning raced with it with terrible power, massively accelerating the coin into a railgun. From Naminé's staff a ray of biting frost magic emerged. Naminé's ray arced over the top of her Decimator's shield while Shiki's railgun went straight through the other's. Naminé's spell blew apart the head in a fearful burst of ice and snow, while Shiki's railgun pierced the vulnerable weak spot in the Decimator's chest. Regardless of the method, the outcome was the same.

" _I may fall."_

Both Decimators fell.

Sora gulped a potion and his body and equipment rapidly grew until he stood more than double his size. "Now!" Sora yelled, raising Kaze no Raion high above him. "Let's go! To battle!"

High upon the cliffs to the north, Nixion grit his teeth and swept his hand forward, commanding the rest of his force. "Wipe them out!"

" _I may fall."_

"Bankai!"

" _I may fall."_

Kairi, who had unleashed Alcezeran while her love and his subordinates handled Xarcs and two of the Decimators, was the one who had loudly said the word.

" _I may fall."_

At once her body changed, even swifter than Sora's growth so that if one were to blink they would miss it. A massive dragon, with hard scales white as snow, glistening gold-webbed wings, and thick, curved horns of purest gold in colour, stood where Kairi had been. Her majesty dumbed many in a sense of awe, but heightened the aura of courage her mere presence had already been inspiring them with.

"Kírínaz Alcezeran!" Kairi's voice thundered. And like booming thunder her wings beat the air, lifting her into flight.

"She really did become a dragon," Olette whispered amongst the Keyblade Wielders. A magnificent roar from Kairi's mouth split the air, stopping the retreating army and causing them all to turn back around. They'd heard the music, but only now did a thought stronger than 'run from the monsters' enter their heads; a curious enquiry as to where that roar that heartened opposed to terrified them came from.

"Wolves! Forward!" Asha cried, lifting up her flaming greatsword as the angel stood at the front of the company that stood ahead and to the side of the massed fledgling Keyblade Wielders. "The time to hunt is nigh!"

" _There's a moment that changes a life when  
We do something that no-one else can."  
"And the path that we've taken will lead us  
One final stand."_

The Fearless Wolves, those with Keyblade and without, charged forward behind the dragon that was Kairi, with Sora, Shiki, Naminé, the digimon, Wispy and Plato still ahead of them. Riku addressed those left behind under the shining beacon of Cosmos. "Wielders! You've fought with unimaginable courage today, against enemies you never expected would be hunting each and every one of you. I have no right to ask any more of you today, but I'm going to ask…"

" _There's a moment we make a decision  
Not to cower and crash on the ground."  
"The moment we face those demons,  
Our courage found."_

"...One last effort to turn back the darkness! By being chosen by a Keyblade you have joined an unbreakable brother and sisterhood like none other! Stand with us now and drive them back! My brothers! My sisters! My friends! When we're through this day our sword-arms will ache from overuse!"

" _When we stand with friends,  
And we won't retreat.  
As we stare down death  
Then the taste is sweet."_

He raised Way to the Dawn high and pointed to the north. "Now, Keyblade Wielders! Onward! To our lord and lady! To Sora! To Kairi! Onward to our victory!"

" _I may fall."  
"But not like this. It won't be by your hand."  
"I may fall."  
"Not this place, not today."_

Stirred by the mood of the song, the conviction in his voice, the charge of the adventuring company, the feeling of courage countering their fear that Kairi's mere presence was inspiring in them, and the awesome power already displayed against Decimators and members of the Eximius Septem, the new Keyblade Wielders charged forward with Riku at the head, leaving behind only those who were providing support through song that filled their limbs with strength and removed their fatigue.

" _I may fall."  
"Bring it all, it's not enough to take me down."_

Behind them, seeing all that was unfolding, the army that had halted its retreat made an about turn, and charged back towards the wall, filled with new hope and courage. They knew that they could beat the darkness; they knew that they could win.

" _I may fall.  
I may fall.  
I may fall."  
"I may… I may fall…"_

The first song ended and Roxas joined up with the knights of Disney Castle, running right along with Goofy and Lady Repsy behind King Mickey. His Samurai emerged from whorls of white, bolstering their ranks. Yuffie remained behind, playing her fiddle expertly and leading the Gullwings through another tune, magic being woven through their music to empower everyone.

The floating sphere cams went everywhere as the army flooded out through the broken gates and past the rubble giant Sora had effortlessly cleared on his way out, soldiers mounted on chocobos in the lead followed by a pair of tanks that had _finally_ made their way to the battle, trying to capture everything on film and stream it to Wartime Battlewatch and the networks that had arranged to get the footage.

Kairi tackled a Decimator to the ground, its sword striking at her side and crushing a few scales, but not managing to cut into her. She roared, goring its head with her horns before bathing it in a torrent of white fire, all while tearing at its body with her claws. Another Decimator struck at her back from behind, but its stroke was blocked by an individual who suddenly appeared there, holding a tower shield made of solarium in the sword's path.

Though he blocked the strike, Kairi still felt Sora's weight and the pressure from his enlarged feet on her back. She turned her long neck to view the massive Char Heartless, glaring at it with contempt. She snorted flame in an annoyed huff and, without moving her body's overall position, her front claws ripped apart the chest of the Decimator she was on while she struck out with her tail, knocking out the legs of the Heartless from beneath it. Sora leapt from her back as the Decimator she was on disintegrated, a large crystalline heart floating into the sky, and Kairi angled her tail so he could use it as a springboard, which Sora did. The prone Heartless managed to get its own shield into Sora's path to block him, so Sora slashed at the shield instead with all the strength he could bring to bear. The blade of swirling wind did what hadn't been achieved before by any cutting edge, and sliced through the shield to clear his path. Sora landed on the Decimator's chest and instantly spotted the weak spot. He let Kaze no Raion roar its paralyzing roar, stopping his enemy before it could roll over or do anything to prevent his next action, and then stabbed deep into the Heartless' chest, infusing his attack with a burst of Twilight energy that raced through its insides. MaltaOhtarmon arrived then at the head, and struck it between the eyes with his lance, dealing the finishing blow.

Four Decimators down, sixteen to go.

"Sora!" Asha shouted as the Fearless Wolves arrived on scene before the enemy horde reached them, though the other Decimators were still very close. "What would you have us do?"

"Break into teams and work with us to bring these big guys down, or work with the others to handle that mess!" Sora said, indicating the quickly advancing foes. "Stay light on your feet and watch yourselves. The Decimators are deceptively fast and incredibly strong!"

"And do not cast magic against their shields!" Kairi added. "They will absorb the energy and launch it back as a terrifyingly strong arcane cannon!"

As soon as she completed her warning, Kairi launched herself back into the air and out of reach of the Decimators, choosing now to make grand swooping attacks and burning them with intense white fire from her mouth.

The two tanks that had arrived now began firing at the Decimators, their ordinance not conventional explosives but blasts of charged arcane energies. One was shooting beams of energy from its cannon, while the other launched powerful arcane blasts that arced in accordance with gravity. Their concentrated fire was successful both in harming and keeping one pinned down behind its shield, part of their barrage getting absorbed into the Heartless emblem in the shield's centre. The actions were enough, keeping it stuck in place long enough for Thorondomon to get into position behind it and unleash her Holy Smite. The Keyblade Wielders weren't the only ones to have grown stronger, and Thorondomon's attack easily overcame the Decimator's resistance, the twelve rays of light piercing right through its body. Despite the Heartless' thirty metre height, the attack brought it down to one knee, opening it up for more blasts from the tanks and other attacks until Riku flew in on his Sun Skates and ripped a mortal gash in its side with a liberal use of his Sunblade technique.

The moment that Decimator fell was when the two charging armies reached one another, one still vastly larger than the other, and the chaos of battle resumed.

-A-D-

Marlene watched the screen from within the 7th Heaven, scarcely able to believe her eyes as one by one the Decimators went down, any and all of their attacks being stopped or misdirected by the efforts of Sora's group and keeping the regular army safe from them. Two of the Decimators went down due to the village of indomitable Gauls, hopped up on their druid's magic potion to give the drinker superhuman strength. Another fell by the hands of the Flame Alchemist, his alchemy incinerating it to oblivion.

But every time they showed Kairi, her eyes were glued to the screen in awe. She was a beautiful dragon, and though the Decimator Heartless were thirty metres tall, Kairi was even bigger. Her torso was more than twice as big, measuring at eighty metres in length, and including her neck and tail she was four times their height in length and was even slightly taller at her shoulder. It was no wonder that she would be taking on two or three of them at once, and winning, before an ally appeared to assist; her torso alone was over twice as big as an adult blue whale!

But all too soon, those monstrous Decimators were gone, and with their attentions switched to the regular boss level Heartless and weaker ones Sora's group was the clear focus for the spherecam feeds. Nothing stood in their path. Kairi razed whole battalions of Heartless in the spans of single breaths of her white fire, and the others were unstoppable. Tismetrx returned to the battle to fight, but he was met almost immediately by Roxas, whom he had once defeated, and was utterly annihilated by the dual wielding Keyblade Master in under a half minute.

At one point a ship that had been fighting against the Heartless above the world crashed to the ground into the midst of the Heartless and Marlene had for a moment feared for the crew, but Kairi reached them first and guarded the downed ship, prowling outside it and roasting or tearing apart any that got close.

The battle couldn't have lasted for more than a half hour after the last Decimator fell before flights of fighter and bomber gummis, accompanied by a few of the larger gunships, swooped down, escorting GDI Titan walkers and personnel carriers being carried by helicopters. The hastily built GDI fleet had finally arrived and brought about victory above. Only minutes later, after the shells of the Titans' cannons began falling into the masses of enemies, the entire force retreated through corridors of darkness.

Victory was theirs, and the whole bar and whole city began celebrating, but the cameras never witnessed the final duel of the fighting.

-A-D-

Sora had reverted from the transformation the potion of _enlarge person_ had caused, normal sized once again as he now held the unsealed form of Cosmos in his hand opposed to Kaze no Raion, which he'd sealed once more and placed in the sheath on his right hip. Garda was on the ground behind him, recovering from his fight while Naminé cast healing magic on him. Nobody else was around, Naminé using Sehanine's power to cast a mind compelling illusion over the immediate area to keep everyone else, and most importantly the spherecams, out.

Garda had met up again on the field of battle with the Death Knight Morgana, so-called Champion of the Underworld, and for the second time he was dealt a defeat at the hands of the greatsword-wielding woman armoured in black and blue plate. Sora and Naminé had arrived in time to stop her from delivering the death blow to him, but they were too late to save a dozen Guardians and soldiers of the Ascalon Vanguard that had already fallen to her blade.

Sora stared into her eyes, bright blue orbs that glowed with blue fire and oozed magic, and found them _wrong_. "I remember you," he said. "It was at the Zeus Cup. You were trying to take away Kairi." He was looking physically down at her when before their gazes had been almost level.

"You've grown taller, and your voice has deepened," Morgana returned behind her tusked greathelm, her own voice hollow and paired with a chilling echo.

"You'll find I'm full of surprises," Sora told her, and launched himself at his opponent. Morgana raised a hand, and tendrils of purple energy leapt forth and snatched Sora in their grasp, yanking him towards her. Morgana quickly slashed at Sora with her greatsword, the blue runes down its length emanating with an icy chill, but her stroke was blocked by Sora's shield. The youth countered, even though his footing was slightly suspect from his unexpected shift in position, stabbing at Morgana's chest.

He scored the first hit. Though his weapon did not have the strength behind the blow to cut into the armour, as he did not aim for her unarmoured midriff but instead for where her armour protected her, he did succeed in pushing her back a step. Morgana thrust her left arm out, hurling a spell made of frost at him, and beneath his armour Sora broke out in a sudden sweat, feeling the onset of an immediate fever as his skin chilled.

With Sora confused by the sudden emergence of the affliction, Morgana had a moment to breathe, and used it to continue the pressure she was placing on Aegis and shove Sora back. She attacked again, switching sides and aiming for Sora's unshielded right. Cosmos glowed gold, and three shining Keyblades appeared directly in the path of her strike and parried the attack. She fell back a step to regain her balance, swinging her rebuffed sword around to make it positioned above her head so that she could bring it down at him in an overhead chop.

Sora stepped back, moving himself away from Morgana while also directing the three glowing Keyblades summoned by Cosmos' power to intercept her strike. Her attack was stopped cold against the three Keyblades that angled themselves into a tripod to catch her move, and Sora dropped Aegis from his hand, now darting out to the right of Morgana, drawing Remembrance from the sheath on his right hip and slashing at Morgana in a wide backhanded arc.

The Death Knight dodged it, pulling back on her sword and leaping away from Sora and the three glowing Keyblades he'd summoned. She raised her hand, and a petulant yellow-green skull shot towards Sora and struck his armoured side. Though his armour protected him from most of it, he still couldn't repress a shudder at the type of energy he'd felt strike him. That was unholy shadow magic; powers of death and darkness.

He needed to stop this woman now.

"Thundaja!" Sora shouted, pointing both of his Keyblades at Morgana and unleashing a blinding torrent of lightning bolts at her, while at the same time having the three Keyblades Cosmos summoned fire concentrated beams of light at the death knight. Morgana's reaction was just as swift, speaking a word and suddenly being surrounded by a shell of purple light. His spells struck her own, but instead of smashing through it were absorbed into it. Morgana waved her hand as it became covered with a frosty chill, and Sora hissed as he felt the cold fever in his veins intensify suddenly, and around his ankles he felt an unnatural cold. Glancing down, he saw shackles of ice chaining him to the blue stone ground.

Morgana lifted her greatsword again, it now glowing with crimson light, and the light shot into the sky before dropping down in a wide circle around Sora, and again he felt the presence of that unholy power seeping through the protection of his armour, itching his skin. She dropped her sword and raised her arm, purple tendrils surrounding it. "You were correct, Sora," she said, "You were surprising; surprisingly easy to defeat."

The bodies of the fallen Guardians and Ascalon Vanguard rose and picked up their weapons, their flesh rapidly decaying until it was half rotting. Risen from the dead with the hatred of those still living instilled in their lifeless corpses, they charged at Sora, screaming wordless unintelligible cries of fury.

Sora burned with fury himself: fury that Morgana would force him to fight against his countrymen and allies, fury that she would defile them like this, and fury that she thought he would be defeated so easily!

"You think I'm done already!?" Sora shouted, bearing his Keyblades. The three he controlled through telepathy cut apart the ghouls with blinding speed, severing limbs and striking them with radiant energy that broke the unholy curse that returned them from the grave. The fever infesting him? He ignored it. The unholy energy clawing at his life? He repulsed it with a burst of Light from Cosmos and Remembrance, sanctifying the ground beneath him and negating the terrible power. The shackles binding him? He broke them apart as he used Flash Step to advance right at Morgana, unleashing two powerful attacks simultaneously.

Morgana's sword flew out of her hands and stabbed into the ground, and her helmet was ripped off her head as Remembrance caught one of the tusks and tore metal as it yanked it up. Her head snapped back at the sudden force, and when it returned to a level position the face Sora saw froze his heart more than all of what she'd done had.

Her eyes were filled with blue flame. Her long chestnut hair was stained with grey, but the face was one Sora would have known his entire life, and one he'd thought to never see again in life.

"Mom?" he asked, his Keyblades falling to the ground from slack fingers. He took off his helmet, his unruly trademark spikes still as prominent on his head as they'd been since he was a child. "Mom? Is it you?"

Morgana's face showed no recognition. Instead there was a small hint of confusion. "I am Lady Morgana, and I serve Maleficent!" The confusion was replaced by anger, and she blasted Sora in the chest with another skull-shaped burst of unholy magic. He staggered backwards at the hit, more out of shock than anything else. The voice was cold and hollow and had a reverberating chill to it that slightly grated on his ears, but its base he recognized despite not hearing it in over three years. That was his mother's voice.

Morgana dashed to the side towards her fallen sword and snatched up the large greatsword with bright blue runes etched down the blade that emanated with a deathly chill. She turned, swinging it as she went, ready to cleave Sora in two if she could, and found her sword stopped cold by a young woman's staff.

"And I am Lady Naminé Talerith," said the fully armoured woman from beneath her face-concealing greathelm, "Princess of Radiant Garden, and I serve my lord, Sora!"

A small girl made of air slammed into Morgana's side, distracting her enough for Naminé to swing her staff and strike Morgana in the chest, pushing her back a step.

Morgana twitched her head as if hearing something that the other two could not, and pulled back. She quickly placed her greatsword back in its baldric upon her back while scooping up her broken helmet, her hands glowing purple the whole while and emitting a faint mist. A tent of purple-glowing mist appeared beneath a black horned skull as she thrust her hands up, and the mist blanketed her.

"We will meet again," Morgana declared, and then she and the coiling mists vanished without a trace. All around, the Heartless, Nobodies, orcs, ammo-less soldiers and vehicles of NOD, and the dwarves and minotaurs the White Witch of Narnia had sent were retreating through corridors of darkness.

They didn't notice, only staring at the spot where the death knight had disappeared. "I only heard about it," Garda said slowly, rising to his feet and coming over to them, "but your mother died that night the Heartless attacked our island."

"She did," Sora said, the words coming out from his mouth brimming with the undertones of his pain as Wispy hugged him.

"But that was her, wasn't it?"

"It was," Naminé confirmed.

They had won the day, but in that moment, Sora and Naminé didn't feel like they'd won at all.

-A-D-

 _There was a point in time when 'I' asked the characters if they knew what Pyrrhic Victory meant…_

 _Here's your answer to that. Some of you probably saw it from a mile away, some of you were probably blindsided by it, but now it's out in the open._

 _In other news, on the Facebook group I made a post asking for questions for the Town Hall interview session that's going to be happening later, with a June 15th deadline for submitting your questions that I'll have the characters answer. For those of you who are not sure of the proceedings, this is a Town Hall style session, wherein those people that Kairi listed last chapter will be available for questions to be asked by all of those who attend, which means both reporters and the general public. No question is off-limits to ask, but not all of them may be answered, due to characters perhaps not wanting to reveal the answer to a question for personal reasons. Questions can be posed to individual characters or to the group as a whole. You can either submit questions in that thread on the FB group, in a new post in the group, in a review to this chapter, or in a PM to me. Just to remind you who these characters are, some of whom you've met and some you really haven't and this could be a good opportunity to get me to have them introduce themselves to you, here's that list again:_

 _Sora - duh_

 _Kairi - derp_

 _Riku - who?_

 _Yuffie - um…?_

 _Naminé - uh-huh_

 _Roxas - yup_

 _Shina - former Imperial Princess of Nalthalass, Roxas' wife and mother of Iroviel_

 _Iroviel - Roxas' and Shina's daughter, born outside of wedlock. Turns 2 in a little over a month; unavailable for questions (SHE'S ONLY 22 MONTHS OLD!)_

 _Jenny - you've met her; she's the wizard girl_

 _Melbil - dwarf princess of Crafthall, tagged along to help kill Ixenmiirik and stayed with them after that_

 _Jastra - elf thief who was caught stealing in Crafthall and got her leg mangled by a trained grizzly bear working with the guards; was then helped by Yuffie and went to rescue her to pay back her debt. Stayed on after due to bonds of friendship_

 _Jared Watcher - was part of their escort group from Lensar; later graduated and became a knight and decided to join the Fearless Wolves company_

 _Asha Solamnus - female Deva, another name for Angels (yes, she's an angel); circumstances of her joining currently unknown_

 _Kal Tusslewick - male halfling and former member of the Three Swords Alliance adventuring company; why he's now a Fearless Wolf is a mystery_

 _Lotte Harpon - female halfling and former serving girl of_ The Boar's Tusk _; left the inn to join the Three Swords Alliance as Kal had captured her heart and swept her off her feet. How she came to be a Fearless Wolf is unknown_

 _Sylla Padfoot - female halfling; unknown background_

 _Beth Martin - twenty-two year old young woman; was the eldest of the farmgirls rescued from Ixenmiirik_

 _Rosaline (Rose) Pike - twenty year old young woman; also rescued from Ixenmiirik_

 _Louise Foster - eighteen year old young woman; also rescued from Ixenmiirik_

 _Alisha Gardner - seventeen year old young woman; the youngest of the four rescued from the dragon_

 _Until next time!_

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


	4. Radiant Garden IV

_Hey everyone. D-Day Anniversary today! 72 years ago today, June 6_ _th_ _, 1944, was the largest amphibious assault in world history, and, indeed, an event that changed the course of history._

 _But you guys don't want to read me going on about D-Day for the umpteenth time. Let's get on with the fic._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, TWEWY, or any of the other works which are featured in this story._

-A-D-

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter 4: Radiant Garden IV

 _1611hrs_

 _Sunday, December 7_

Sora could not afford the luxury of retreating from the world to deal with the pain of the cruel fate he'd just discovered his mother had been subjected to. All around him were the celebrating masses. They'd fought against an army of over two hundred thousand Heartless, Nobodies, and other enemies while vastly outnumbered, and they'd driven them back with a good majority of them surviving through it!

"The real work begins now, doesn't it, Sora?" Naminé asked him, looking at Sora and watching his face carefully.

He shook his head. "Tomorrow," Sora answered, pushing away the pain for later and rising to look south, towards the walls and distant castle. "The work begins tomorrow, and the official remembrance of those we lost today will have to wait. Tonight, we drink, we dance, we feast, and we revel the night away in our victory."

"Sounds fun, but you know, my lord, that I don't have a dance partner."

"Nonsense," Sora declared. "If Roxas won't dance with you, then I will."

"You're spoken for," Naminé reminded him. "And I'm not sure Kairi would like it if you were dancing with me instead. She already thinks I'm trying to steal you from her."

"No she doesn't," Sora replied.

Garda narrowed his eyebrows while gathering up his black claymore. "Why would she think that?"

"She doesn't," Sora firmly repeated. Naminé sighed.

"It's complicated," she answered. Garda chuckled.

"Life often is," he answered sagely.

Naminé dispelled her illusion as she sealed Sehanine back into her Keyblade's usual form, and the three of them started the walk back with their backs up straight and proud, helmets off and triumphant grins plastered onto their faces while Wispy flew all around them in spirals, laughing giddily. Soon others were taking notice of them, cheering and chanting and talking, and the crowd surged behind them. By the time they returned to the broken gatehouse, Sora was in the lead with Kairi, followed by Riku, with Naminé, Shiki, and Roxas in the front of a scrum of new Keyblade Wielders and Fearless Wolves. All of them had their helmets removed so that their faces could be plainly seen by all, even though it exposed them to winter cold. The deva, Asha, was given a wide berth, many people intimidated or awed of the presence of the angelic warrior.

As they passed through the broken gatehouse, they were met by Yuffie and the Gullwings. Yuffie rushed towards Riku and kissed him, jumping into his arms and hooking her right leg up so that he could hold it close in an erotic lovers' embrace which was met with by more than a few whistles and _ooh_ s. "Everyone!" Kairi shouted, trying to be heard. "Everyone please! Everyone I have an announcement!"

"They can't hear ye, Kairi," Melbil answered, needing to almost shout so that Kairi could even hear her. Kairi, smiling, rolled her eyes and drew her Keyblade out from its sheath. She fired several blasts of flame high into the sky and quickly got to the top of the rubble of the west gatehouse tower so that all could see her and tried again.

"Everyone! Everyone please, quiet! I have an announcement to make!"

"Dragon Knight!" someone shouted, inciting a chorus of repeated calls of that name that continued for a good two and a half minutes before they could be quieted down again. It wasn't too surprising. Many could say that they won simply because of Kairi, and no one was about to contest that argument.

"Everyone!" Kairi announced when quiet had finally been achieved. "You have all fought very hard and very well today! I'm proud of all of you! There is—" she had to pause, again overcome by cheers, shouts, hollers, and assorted chest thumping. "There is food and drink aplenty at the castle! The preparations began the moment we returned! Tonight, we celebrate our victory defending Radiant Garden!" Her next words were drowned out again, but this time the army still got the message as Riku and Yuffie started south down the road, leading the procession. Kairi hopped down from her position so she could stand next to Sora and Naminé. Shiki and several members of the Fearless Wolves stayed with them as well while the army marched past, their officers managing to organize their companies into respectable formations instead of a single mob, and a sense of pride did swell up in their chests with every salute that passed them.

"So what's got you frazzled?" Kairi asked quietly from the corner of her mouth.

"I'll tell you later," Sora answered.

"Promise?"

"Of course."

"Good," Kairi answered. "There's also something I need to tell you. I need to schedule a town hall interview session for all of us."

"All of us?" Sora asked.

"The Wolves," Kairi answered, still holding her salute to the companies marching past. "The press was outside the castle when we arrived. I told them we'd be having one to try to forestall us getting mobbed by them."

"Good move. When for?"

"I didn't say, but I think it's best if we don't wait too long."

"How about Wednesday?" Naminé offered. "It will give us and them time to prepare."

"Wednesday sounds good," Sora agreed. "Today is...Sunday, right?"

"Yep. Sunday, December 7th."

"Alright, do it for Wednesday," he told Kairi. She nodded her head.

"Wednesday it is," Kairi said.

Eventually the army finished going past them, all in good cheer and high spirits. One went the other way. Wearing an outfit Sora had seen her in only once before, Yuna walked by dressed as a shrine maiden. Barefoot and without her winter coat, her shoulders and upper back bare, Yuna carried an ornate staff. She was silent as she went past them, and silently they followed her, curious about her behaviour but noting the solemnity of her face. Yuna stepped past the broken gates and beyond the gatehouse rubble until she was in the battlefield, just in front of where their vanguard's line had been driven back to.

Yuna began to dance.

She was many things at once. Beautiful, but terrifying. Graceful, but sorrowful. She made their hearts ache in pain and desire to look away, but at the same time they were drawn to watch, unable to stop. Lights rose from the battlefield: pink, cyan, and emerald, and they flowed around her as she danced.

"People die and Yuna dances," Rikku said from behind them, answering their unasked question. "During her pilgrimage, Tidus told me he never wanted to see Yuna have to dance again."

"It's the Sending," Paine explained. "Summoners of Spira send the souls of the dead to the Farplane so they can rest, and not grow restless and angry at the living, turning into fiends. We're not in Spira, so I don't know if they're going to the Farplane or not, but Yuna does seem to be directing them to their own resting grounds."

"It's a beautiful send-off," Asha commented, and Sora could only agree with the white marble-skinned deva, but he also agreed with Tidus.

He didn't want to see Yuna do this dance again.

"When Yuna's done, let the orderlies know that they can start collecting the dead," he said quietly. "We've got a long road ahead of us."

-A-D-

The entire town was in celebration mode. Drink flowed, bands and music played, and people danced. Every bar, pub, taphouse, and tavern was full as the civilians partied and toasted those who'd fought to defend them. Any military member who managed to find their way to one of these establishments was instantly praised by the thankful masses, and found all of their needs sated free of charge.

The largest and greatest of all the celebrations, however, was in the castle. It was here that all of the Keyblade Wielders, new and old, were gathered, along with the Fearless Wolves that had accompanied Sora's band into battle. The generals, senior officers and commanders were also here, along with the majority of their ground troops.

It was a good thing for all of them that Beth had begun coordinating with Helia immediately upon arrival to prepare for their victory fare, even though the Head Cook had already started, for everyone had worked up quite the appetite. Amongst the supplies they'd packed had also been a selection of favourites of the Fearless Wolves, including but not limited to: wild boar, venison, tortoise egg, plump helmet mushrooms, a small cask of Gutbreaker Fire Ale, quail, mutton and lamb, and barrels of Bill's best Honeybee Head, which were all included in the festivities.

The main dining hall and the upper audience chamber were both filled with revelers and staff, constantly taking away plates as soon as they were emptied and bringing in fresh batches. Though they were separated by several floors, requiring the lift to even reach the floor where the audience chamber was located, it seemed like it was one continuous party that even spilled out into the snowy lawn out front.

Riku, Yuffie, and Roxas had since joined the party, along with a number of their adventuring company. While Roxas and Shina mingled and drank with the Wolves and other friends who came to chat, Yuffie (and Riku) were dragged away by Tifa to a conclave of the Radiant Garden cohort. Yuffie felt like she was before a tribunal when they'd all gathered. Leon, Rinoa, Aerith, Zack, Tifa, Cid, Vincent, Barrett, and Shalua Rui surrounded the pair in a semicircle, their backs to the wall.

"So, three years, huh?" Tifa said, looking the pair up and down. Yuffie, much to her friends' surprise, was wearing a dress. It was somewhat thin, and made of a rich lavender silk. It was cut tastefully in the front to show only a modest amount of cleavage and left her upper back bare. Her arms were slipped into two layers of sleeves. The inner hugged close to her skin, while the outer was slit at the top from the wrist to just above her elbow, letting them hang out and revealing a plush off-white lining. The bodice and sleeves were decorated with silver threads depicting a wolf and winter snow, with the swirling winds also being threaded into the skirt. But down the middle of the skirt in front the lavender fabric was slit, revealing a second skirt of the same creamy off-white as her sleeves beneath, with crimson and gold thread depicting blooming roses. Around her neck was a pendant with a silver-blue chain and flower-engraved clasp, in which was set a large emerald the size of her thumbnail. She'd even taken the time to braid her hair on the left side, and placed a bow-shaped rose gold hairpin in it, the hairpin set with a large glittering diamond in the centre with smaller accent crystals throughout. Around her waist a crimson sash was tied, within which was a small brown scabbard painted with gold leaves and bound and chaped in onyx, within which was her father's dagger. On her left hand, though she tried to conceal it, Tifa spotted a ring.

Riku was also dressed to a higher standard than Tifa had come to expect from him. His back and shoulders were covered by a collared golden cloak. The base material appeared to be black, but there was so much gold thread richly embroidered into it around a wavy pattern of bright red garnets that had been sewn into the garment, that the black only served to accent the red garnets and rich golden weaving it served as the backdrop for. Underneath the cloak Riku wore a black short-sleeved tunic and black pants over a white long-sleeved shirt. His tunic was edged in a gold diamond pattern weave, with six gold fasteners at the front from the base of the neck to two-thirds down his sternum. The tunic belt was woven in the same gold diamond pattern. Though they couldn't fully see the other belt he wore, Way to the Dawn's hilt poked out from underneath the slit in the tunic's lower half where it was belted on and was sheathed in a beautiful black scabbard with silver bands and a silver chape, adorned by brightly polished golden beryls. Riku's hair was also neatly brushed and combed, and around his neck on a short silver-blue chain resembling Yuffie's, though his was an engraving in the shape of a pair of wings, there was a stunning sapphire in the centre. Though for the moment his hands were hidden behind the folds of his cloak, Tifa thought for sure that at one point she'd seen a flash of gold on his left hand.

"Yeah, three years," Yuffie answered.

"It's only made you more beautiful," Aerith told her, and Yuffie blushed and turned away. Tifa could only agree and think of how amazing Yuffie and Riku looked right now while she, Aerith, Rinoa, and Shalua Rui stood in simple monochromatic cocktail dresses and the men with them were in button-ups and blazers. The pair were dressed as upper-class nobility, no matter how you looked. All of the effort she must have put into partially braiding her hair and putting on dresses and other 'girly' styles of clothing had paid off in a big way.

"Hey, she's right," Riku said softly, cupping her chin with his hand and getting her to look at him. "You're stunning." Yuffie's blush intensified, but she didn't look away from him. Tifa could see the warmth in her face, and she was positively glowing from the praise.

"So, did anything, uh, _special_ , happen between you two in that time?" Tifa asked leadingly, glancing down at Yuffie's hand, which the young woman was still concealing. Leon's eyes flickered between the pair, his brow furrowing.

Yuffie's lips twitched upwards for a moment and she appeared to think about it. "I don't know," she said at last, and moved closer to Riku. She brought her hands up to wrap her right one around his shoulder, while her left hand she clutched at his left arm through the cloak, the black ivory ring with glittering purple spinels and golden band and prongs prominently displayed. "I think you'd have to ask my lord _husband_ about that." Riku, smirking, turned his head to look at her and pointedly ignored the others.

"You threw me under the bus," he accused. Yuffie smiled.

"I did," she agreed. "I'm sorry."

"Hm," grunted Riku, though he didn't seem upset by it, and they shared a quick smooch.

"Husband?" Leon growled.

"Congratulations, Yuffie!" Rinoa said, swiftly giving her a thumbs up, to Leon's bafflement. "He's a hottie! I approve!"

"Rinoa, you've met me before," Riku said slowly, looking at her in amused disbelief.

"Husband?" Leon growled again. He went ignored by the others as the other men stepped forward and clapped Riku on the back in congratulations for helping her remember that she likes her feminine side while the women gave Yuffie their congratulations.

"When did it happen?" Aerith asked. She was beaming at the couple in front of her. Tifa was just the same. Yuffie looked so happy when she gazed at Riku, the man who'd gone from lover to husband in just a few hours, at least from Tifa's perspective.

"Midsummer's Day, our first year out," Yuffie answered. "Jiminy took pictures, so we can show them to you later."

"Who proposed?" Tifa asked,

"Riku did," Yuffie told her. She smiled at her husband and gave him another kiss. "It was really romantic."

"Yeah," Riku agreed, blushing a little. "I proposed right after slaying a dragon that had taken her prisoner and was going to eat her."

"Killed a dragon for her?" Cid asked with a chuckle. "Shucks, I knew she could be annoying sometimes, but to think a dragon would want to eat her just to spare us the pain of living with her…"

"Can it, old man," Yuffie said, "or I'll feed you to Lleweryr."

"To what now?" Barrett inquired.

"Lleweryr, my gryphon," Yuffie answered. Riku muttered some strange words under his breath while waggling his fingers, and Tifa gasped in surprise as a pair of flutes filled with drink floated over to him. He grasped one and Yuffie the other. She sniffed it, and her face brightened. "Ooh, the Honeybee Head! And it's not diluted either!"

Riku clinked his glass with hers. "To our victory and safe return."

"Cheers," his wife agreed, and the pair sipped their mead.

"What is this ring?" Tifa asked, looking closer at Yuffie's hand.

"That's black ivory," Yuffie answered, holding out her hand. "From the beak of an owlbear we killed on our first adventure. The rest is purple spinel and gold from the mines of Rigothiton, also called Crafthall, a dwarf city built inside an active volcano. You would not believe the place, Tifa! The streets are literally paved with gold! There are statues of dwarf heroes twenty feet tall made from solid gold, and the hot springs there are just to die for!"

"We should take you there sometime," Riku said. "I think you guys would like it."

"And the shops, Riku! _All_ the shops!"

Tifa watched the two of them in amusement, though she had to admit to herself that she would like to go and see this place Yuffie was describing. Hot springs always sounded nice. She didn't think she'd ever seen Yuffie this bright and cheerful before. She and Riku were just beaming with light.

She was happy for Yuffie, but it also made her sad. Somewhere out there, Cloud was all by himself, hunting his darkness and, Tifa constantly wondered, running from his light; running from her. Couldn't he see that she wanted to help him end his torment, that she wanted to share in his life, the good and the bad, just like Riku and Yuffie here were doing?

" _Husband?_ " Leon growled a third time, reminding them that he was present.

Yuffie carefully removed herself from Riku's side and stood protectively in front of her mate. "Yes, Squall, I said 'husband'. Riku and I are married. We have been married for over two and a half years and we will continue to be married for the rest of our lives. I had hoped that you'd be _happy_ for me, but I guess that was too much to ask wasn't it?"

Tears were in Yuffie's eyes, signifying to Tifa that there was an impending disaster on their hands if it wasn't corrected _now!_ This was obviously something of monumental importance to Yuffie, because Tifa wasn't sure of the last time she'd ever seen Yuffie get worked up to tears over something in a matter of seconds since becoming an adolescent, apart from that... _unpleasantness_ with elbowed Leon, but he seemed to get the message before she'd even made contact with him. His face softened, and he opened his arms.

"C'mere," he said quietly, taking Yuffie into a hug while Aerith took her mead. She'd definitely grown taller since they'd last seen her, standing at height with Leon when she'd used to be so much shorter. "C'mere, that's it. I'm sorry, Yuffie. I'm sorry. I am happy; of course I'm happy for you, but you're not really being fair to me either. I'm still getting used to you being in a committed relationship, and now you're asking me to accept that my little sister grew up and got married without even giving me the chance to give you away."

"I wanted you to be there," Yuffie sniffled, clutching him tighter. "I missed you. I wanted you to be there for me, but with the way everything was we didn't want to risk waiting any longer. Are you mad?"

"No, no I'm not mad at you," Leon consoled her. "I'm just upset that so much happened to you without me. Will you tell us what happened?"

Yuffie sniffed and pulled out of the hug, wiping her eyes. "Where should we even start?" she asked, taking her drink back and taking a good sip from it. "There's just so much to tell."

"How about filling us in on Roxas having a kid?" Cid asked. Shalua looked at the pilot in surprise.

"Really?" she asked. "I thought that was just a rumor."

"Where did you hear that?" Riku asked quickly, taking Tifa and the others aback by the seriousness of his voice.

"Nowhere, really," Shalua replied. "I just overheard Lea muttering about it while he was drinking this evening." Riku made a serious face and quickly excused himself from their company. Tifa watched him go, narrowing her eyes a little before turning back to Yuffie.

"I take it this is something you don't want public yet?" she asked. Yuffie shook her head.

"We are not about to open up that can of worms just yet," Yuffie replied. "Anything about that is going to be talked about by the family. Riku and I don't really have the right to talk about it. If those five want it public, then it'll be made public."

"Those five?" Aerith asked.

"Roxas, Shina, Naminé, Sora, and Kairi," Yuffie said. "They're the ones it concerns the most."

"Speaking of Sora," Vincent remarked, "I haven't seen him enter yet. Where is he?"

-A-D-

Kairi gasped, stunned for a few seconds by what Sora had just told her. "You're sure? It wasn't some kind of trick?"

"I'm sure," Sora told her. "It was my mom."

"But…" Kairi started, stopping, unable to find the words at the moment, "but… but that's totally outrageous! For Maleficent to do that to your mother is—!"

"Is it really any worse than anything else we've seen her, or others, do?" Sora asked quietly. His firebrand of a girlfriend really didn't have any words that she could say for several seconds. The two of them were standing on a balcony on the castle's east side, neither of them yet changed from their armour besides having removed their helms and gauntlets. They had just returned after spending an extended amount of time in the infirmary, assisting in all the ways they were able.

Kairi's hands fell to her sides, slowly clenching into fists. "Sora, don't do this," she said in forced tones of calm. "Don't try to keep this in and shut me out when you're hurting. You don't have to be some macho man whose heart can't be hurt; it's not going to make me think any less of you."

"The same for you," Sora replied, turning away from the railing to look at her. "Selphie was your best friend. I won't think any less of you if you crack open that tough girl persona you've built up."

Without another word, the two of them came together and hugged one another, taking what comfort they could from each other's presence. They were solid, and warm, and could feel each other's heartbeat. "We're a couple of idiots," Sora remarked softly after a couple of minutes.

"We're nineteen, of course we're idiots," Kairi joked. She pressed a kiss to Sora's cheek. "I already know the answer, but I'm going to ask you anyway. Are you okay?" Sora sighed into her hair.

"No. No I'm not okay. My mom's been brought back from the dead just to fight against us and we lost another friend. I'm so mad it's taking everything I've got not to just shake in rage." He took a deep breath and he realized the amount of strength he was grasping Kairi with. Sora winced. "I'm sorry."

"You won't break me, Sora; it's okay," she said. "You're not the only one who's angry. I'm so mad and hurt that Selphie was taken from us all I want to just scream and cry." Her voice started to break towards the end of her sentence, and there _were_ tears in her eyes. Her breath shuddered as she clutched him tightly, and she just stood there and hugged him, listening to his heartbeat for a while. "I'm glad you're still here, Sora; even after all we've been through."

"Same here," Sora replied. The Keyblade Master kissed her cheek. "I've never said it, but you're really what's kept me going since Maleficent had our parents killed. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too."

"You'd grieve, naturally, and hopefully move on and find happiness wherever it finds you," Kairi replied. She kissed his lips, her own full and warm. "I'd want you to be happy, Sora, and not live, chained to a memory. You're also what's kept me going since we found out, but if I were to lose you too, I don't expect you'd want me to waste away in grief either."

"No, I wouldn't." Sora lightly kissed her again, looking deep into her eyes through half-closed eyelids. "Enough of this talk of death," he sighed. "C'mon. We'd better get ready and join this party."

"Right," Kairi agreed. "Uh, before we do, we should probably bathe." She placed her hand on his chest, slowly running it up and down his breastplate. Sora grinned.

"Are we really in the mood to try again?" he asked.

"There were orcs and minotaurs in that mess, Sora," Kairi explained. "I got a little... bloody."

"Well then we really will need to wash off," Sora reasoned as he and she slowly made their way to the opulent bathroom with the pool-sized tubs. "Just so we can be sure that we clean every last inch."

-A-D-

"What's taking them so long?" Shiki asked, tapping her foot while she and Naminé waited in the den in the royal wing on the castle's third floor, which served as the living quarters for the reigning monarch, his or her family, and their guests.

Shiki had not exactly come through the portal with a change of clothes, but she did have a bag of holding on her from her own time in Olomund with formal dress to go with her armour. Her helmet was off, revealing again her glasses and short black hair. Over her breastplate was a red surcoat, upon which was a golden badger, and though she'd taken off her gauntlets, she'd put on a pair of gilded ornamental bracers engraved with the same badger and set with crimson garnets. She'd also put on her finest dress cloak, a silk garment dyed black and bordered in gold. Dark grey designs patterned it, and again was the gold badger in the centre of the back, its eyes actually made of diamonds. Her greaves she'd switched out for a silver fauld and black pants that were still covered by her surcoat. In addition, the metal boots she'd been wearing had been replaced with shiny black shoes with prase circles around the big toe.

The notion had not escaped her that though the fiefdom she and her friends had represented had a boar for its emblem while Sora's had a lion, neither of them had picked the animal of their sponsor as their sigil, nor did it pass her by that both of them had picked animals that were very dangerous when cornered or protecting their families.

"You don't want to know," Naminé replied.

"What do you mean?" Shiki asked, looking at Naminé. The blonde had put on her own white surcoat edged in silver and blue displaying the emblem of the Fearless Wolves in black upon its centre, matching her cloak. She had also done the same as Shiki in replacing her greaves with a fauld and boots with more formal shoes, though instead of bracers and plate armour on her arms, Naminé was in a slightly loose-fitting bright white blouse. Her hands were bare of gloves, but there was a pair of silver rings on her right hand's middle and ring fingers, each of them with a large sapphire in them and several smaller gemstones of different varieties. A thin golden circlet crowned her head with sapphire, ruby, emerald, and amethyst all woven into it around a central diamond.

"Exactly what I said," Naminé replied. "I've interrupted them enough times to know just what they're trying to do. They're not going to be happy if you stop them."

"Stop them from what?" Shiki demanded. "Kairi _announced_ this party. It won't do for her and Sora to miss it!"

"We could just go without them…" Naminé suggested.

"Nope," Shiki declared. "I'm going to see what's keeping them."

Striding out of the room with purpose, Shiki headed towards the room that she should have known better than to go barging into. She opened the door to the antechamber of the bathroom and ignored the baskets containing the clothes and armour of the two she was seeking, and continued on through the next door.

"What's taking you guys so…" Shiki's voice petered out as she spotted them, the pair wet from their bathing and standing and quite heatedly making out while one of each of their hands was doing things south of each other's waists. Sora's undersized (he'd need to see Winry again to get that fixed) automail arm and Kairi's glorified gilded gnome-made equivalent leg were both lustrous and shining from the tender love and care they'd been given, something their owners were currently trying to express to one another. "Oh God; what are you doing!?"

"Two hundred fifty-two, out of two hundred fifty-two! Well done, Shiki!" Sora sarcastically cheered as Kairi turned her head to gaze at the irritant. Shiki was blushing profusely as she stared at the pair.

"By the Gods of Olympus, Shiki, have you never seen a penis before?"

"I have, Kairi, quite frequently in fact!" Shiki refuted. "I'm sure if we weren't being smart about it Neku would have gotten me pregnant by now, but that's not the point! The point is you two don't have time to be doing this right now! You need to be getting dressed so we can join the victory feast!"

"I told you that they'd be trying to do this," Naminé said, entering from behind Shiki.

"And you didn't stop her?" Sora queried. Naminé smiled and shrugged, and both Sora and Kairi groaned, by now completely unperturbed by being seen completely exposed, though Kairi did make a subtle movement so as to hide her leg behind Sora.

"So, how many times does this make?" Naminé asked. "Three hundred? Not that anyone's counting, of course."

"Two hundred fifty-two," Sora replied with a bit of a laugh while wiping his face off with his hands. "You know, I'm _this_ close to telling Kairi that the next time she's horny she should just go and buy herself a male hooker to scratch that itch for her, because _clearly_ it's not going to be me who gets to be her first since we've been interrupted every time we've tried!"

"No, Sora, I could never do that to you," Kairi passionately assured him. "I want you and _only_ you! I'll just get a girl's best friend."

"Diamonds?" Sora asked, raising his eyebrows. Kairi shook her head.

"No. A vibrator, and one that's just not quite your size, so I'll always be left wanting for you." She gave him a kiss right after a naughty giggle, and Shiki was left holding her head in her hands.

"Cough!" Naminé exclaimed. "My lord, as much as I know you and my sister would love to spend the rest of the evening attempting to fool around, we really do need to get going."

"Fine, then," Sora sighed, extracting himself from Kairi and removing all of his digits from various places on her body. "Bring us our towels so we can dry off. What do you suggest? Regular finery or armour?"

"Well we're wearing our armour," Naminé said as she turned, "and Kairi did go all 'dragon knight' earlier, so I think dress armour would be appropriate." She grabbed towels and came back towards them. "However…"

Naminé suddenly extended her hand and blasted the two of them back into the 'bathpool' with a surge of water. "You were touching each other. Cool off and clean up again. Then we'll go down."

-A-D-

"Ladies and Gentlemen," announced a herald standing at the doors of the audience chamber on the highest floor of the castle's interior. "Her Royal Highnesses, Princess Kairi Talerith, Keyblade Wielder and Knight of Radiant Garden; and Princess Naminé Talerith, Keyblade Wielder and Knight of Radiant Garden; and their escorts, Lord Sora, Son of Macellery and Anne, Keyblade Master of Destiny Islands and Prince of Pride Rock; and Lady Shiki Misaki, Keyblade Master of the Realm of Darkness."

All heads turned at the announcement of their entry. The four of them were in line, arrayed Naminé, Sora, Kairi, and Shiki from left to right (facing them), and all four of them bore their Keyblades in sheathes on their hips. Sora was in much the same as Shiki and Naminé, wearing a surcoat displaying the wolf head of their adventuring company over his armour, with his surcoat matching his pure white cloak edged in gold and silver thread, and exchanging his greaves for a veiled fauld and boots for dressier shoes. Though he didn't put on the rerebraces or vambraces of his set, he was still seen with the tight sleeves of a shirt of mail, and an ornamental pair of silver bracers above black leather gloves.

Kairi was the only one differing. Though she too was in armour and cloak she wore no surcoat above, letting all see a radiantly buffed white cuirass, highlighted artistically in vermilion and gold, and underneath the breastplate and along her arms, clearly seen to all, was a soft pink dress of very fine silk. The skirt reached all the way to her toes and ended just in front of her, ensuring that she'd never step on it lest something unforeseen happen, with a thin slit running up her left leg to roughly a quarter of her thigh's length. Her feet were within crystal slippers with glittering, polished sterling silver butterflies above the toes. Kairi's hands and the front half of her forearms were veiled by white gloves. From her neck hung the pink-tinged silver crown pendant Sora had once given her, hanging on a mythral chain and matching his own, and on her auburn-tressed head sat a mythral circlet that sparkled with rubies.

Revelers clapped, cheered, and saluted as the four of them strode in, past the images of the former rulers of Radiant Garden and the alcoves where future rulers' likenesses are destined to be placed. The day's victory was in no small part due to their efforts, a feat that placed them upon pedestals of awe. Two of the three members of the Eximius Septem that had fallen had been at their hands, and a majority of the Decimators as well.

Though there were tables to the sides of the chamber, leaving the centre clear for mingling and dancing, there was also one long table laden with silver-covered dishes placed horizontally in front of the vacant throne, to which the four moved towards. Kensworth waited here as the four strode through the bowing masses, the elder Steward greeting his young mistress with a smile as she approached.

"I feel as though I am meeting you again as I did only a few months ago," Kensworth said as she reached the side of the table. He kissed her twice, once upon each cheek, and continued. "Though I saw you only this morning, you have grown even taller and more beautiful than before."

Kairi blushed. "You are too kind, you old charmer. While it has been less than a day for you, it has been three years for me, Kenny," replied the princess. "I am glad to be back."

"You are fashionably late, however," her steward noted.

"Sora and I were held up in the infirmary," Kairi answered. Kensworth nodded, and showed them to their seats as the others who had been given places at the head table came forward to sit down. Kairi and Naminé were placed at the centre of the table just in front of the empty throne, with Sora to Kairi's right and Naminé on her left. Shiki sat to Sora's right, followed by Yuffie and then Riku. To Naminé's left sat Roxas, then Shina and Jenny. Each of the fighting members of the Fearless Wolves found themselves seated at this table. Asha Solamnus, the angelic deva; Jenny Clover, the human wizard; Melbil Primegild, princess of the dwarf mountainhome of Rigothiton; Shina Starbrow, Roxas' wife and former princess of the elven empire of Nalthallas; Jastra Mistmyrr, the elf thief; Sir Jared Watcher, knight of Lensar fiefdom; and Sylla Padfoot, Lotte Harpon, and Kal Tusslewick, halflings all. Fifteen Fearless Wolves and one Dark Beast, the name of Shiki's band.

Other guests of honour were sat with them. King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy of Disney Castle; Prince Rurik of Ascalon; Prince Alexander of Destiny Islands; Princess Jasmine and Aladdin of Agrabah; Princess Belle and the Beast of Prince Alain's Castle; Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip of Enchanted Dominion; Glorfindel of Rivindell; Chief Vitalstatistix and Asterix of the Village of Indomitable Gauls; Boromir of Gondor; and Fleet Admiral Kago of Star Command, who had been commanding their fleet in the battle above. Thirty-two persons, sixteen to a side. They all looked at the table, smelling the scents that the silver domes could not hide from their curious noses, and noticing that every goblet at every place setting was filled.

Sora and Naminé glanced at one another, having very quickly and quietly conversed while walking, and Sora stood from the chair he had just been seated in, picking up the goblet in front of him as he did so. He made a noise in his throat, indicating that he was going to say something, and everyone quieted, the eyes of the hall still upon him. Naminé rose as well, and then so did all who were currently seated.

"I would like to congratulate all of you for the efforts you made today," Sora declared. "And I'd like to thank all of you for not waiting on my account to start celebrating those efforts."

He paused to let the chuckles subside.

"Tonight we celebrate our victory today, but more than that, we celebrate all the people who made it possible. It wasn't just me, Donald, and Goofy, or King Mickey or Riku, or even Kairi, the Dragon Knight; or all of us here at this table in front of you; this victory could not have been won without the hard work and effort of all of you, your friends, your families, and all the people who couldn't be with us tonight." He lowered his head for a moment before bringing it back up, holding out his goblet. "We celebrate and honour all of you, and all of our friends who shed their blood and gave their lives and hearts to defend this city." He raised his goblet high. "Hail the victorious dead!"

"Hail!" the Fearless Wolves shouted loud above all the others, speaking first and leading them all in drinking from their cups. This was not the first time they had made this toast.

"And may us who remain go forward with our heads high and our hearts proud to have known them; for their hearts to have touched ours!" Naminé called out. "And may we carry them with us forever, so that we can defend what they defended with the same selflessness, and that they may taste victory eternal!" Naminé raised her goblet high with her impassioned cry. "Hail the victorious living!"

"HAIL!"

"Now we invite you all to continue as you were!" Kairi declared after having drunk deeply from her goblet. "Drink for yourselves who can enjoy it and drink even more for those who no longer can! We've all earned this party, so I want you to have fun, and try not to hurt anybody...too much!"

She smiled as her words were greeted by cheers and laughs, and she, Sora, and Naminé all took their seats again with the rest of the table following suit in short order.

"I'm glad that's over," Sora said quietly after sitting down.

"Aw, you did a good job, Sora," Shiki told him.

"Yup," Goofy agreed from across the table. "I felt it was a really nice thing for you to say, Sora."

"Do you not like public speaking?" Donald asked.

"It's not that I _don't_ like it," Sora answered. "I just get really nervous, especially in front of this many people."

"Tell me about it," Kairi agreed. "You don't think I came across as insensitive, was I? Telling everyone to drink and be merry on the heels of what happened?"

"I think what you said, what _all_ of you said," Shina stated, "was lovely and appropriate." The three who had spoken smiled at her, but their attentions gave them little time for much else as the domes topping their food were removed, revealing many dishes impeccably prepared for their consumption, a fair number of them including the ingredients they themselves had brought for the kitchens to use.

"I'm sure Obelix would want to be at our table," Asterix said, seeing the steaming plate of a rather large wild boar right in the centre of the table.

"Hmf," Yuffie chuckled in her throat, "knowing him he'll find his way over here anyway, and he'll eat the whole boar."

"Then I'm making sure I get some now!" Aladdin stated. "I've never had this before, and it looks and smells so good!" He stood up and leaned forward, reaching for the carving knives. Sora, who was closer, offered to do it instead, since he was right there in front of the roasted animal, to which Aladdin humbly accepted after seeing Jasmine's expression.

"Tha's it, Sora," Melbil chuckled. "Serve the meat, serve the meat."

"It's not like you don't know how," Lotte agreed.

"Hey, there's more meat down over there," Sora shot back, gesturing towards the halfling. "You could stand to serve it too."

"Stand?" Lotte asked, feigning insult. "I'd need to stand on my chair just to reach it! Could we poor little halflings and our resident dwarf get some cushions or something?"

"I dun know what yer talking about," Melbil returned, straightening up in her seat. "I'm fine." She looked across the table from her and realized she was sitting across from the Beast, who even sitting down was much taller than her. "Although, I suppose if it's possible I could do with _one_ cushion…"

"And what are you talking about? Having me serve this up? This quail is almost as big as I am!"

"Oh right, what was I thinking?" Sora said rhetorically, looking to the halfling to his right. "You'll be able to eat the whole thing yourself won't you?"

"You're thinking of _him_ ," Lotte replied, pointing at Kal, sitting at the end of table to her right. He shrugged, holding out his arms.

"Hey, I'm a hungry halfling. It's not my fault!"

"Thank you, Sora," Kairi said as he placed a big slice of boar meat on her plate. "This looks great."

"I'd take a bit more pride in it if I'd done more than just carve it," Sora admitted.

"You seem to have done this before," Aurora stated, watching Sora's hands as he expertly carved the boar, cutting through joints and working around the bones like it was nothing. He chuckled.

"I guess you could say that."

"My lord apprenticed as an innkeeper while we were away," Naminé explained with a bit of a smirk between sips of her mead. "Whenever we weren't working as adventurers, practicing our combat skills, or off travelling he was usually in the _Boar's Tusk_ , learning the ins and outs of running an inn."

Those on the other side of the table who were paying attention to the conversation glanced at each other before looking curiously at Naminé. "My lord?" Belle asked. "That's an unusually formal way of talking about Sora."

Caught by surprise for how strange it was for their old friends to hear her say that, when she'd gotten used to it over the past three years, Naminé blushed for a few moments. "Yes, well...how shall I put this? We may have told you already or some of you may have heard that from our perspective, after we were sucked through the portal Xokor made, we were gone for three years."

"Well that explains the beards alright," Aladdin muttered, looking again at Sora's well-trimmed goatee framing his mouth and covering his chin.

"Shortly after we arrived, Sora was feeling hesitant and was…"

"Stubbornly resisting?" Sora offered.

"I was going to say 'reluctant'," Naminé offered, "but yes, he was stubbornly resisting, to use his own words, taking up the position of being our leader. So to give him a bit of a nudge in the right direction, I swore fealty and service to him. I'm glad I did. He's grown quite a lot since then; we all have."

"You swore fealty?" King Mickey asked. "I dunno, Naminé. Isn't that going to make your position here more difficult?"

"Don't fret, Your Majesty. We've got it all figured out," Naminé assured him.

"So how did you react, Sora?" Jasmine asked. He grinned and glanced at Naminé, who laughed.

"Oh you want me to say it? He made me dig a latrine to get even for something I did," she answered, holding her goblet of mead up to her lips. "As nice as Sora is, he can be a vindictive little shit when he wants to be."

"Yeah, yeah," Sora laughed while continuing to serve the boar. "You can drop the 'my lord' for tonight, Naminé. I won't mind."

"Sure thing, my Sora," Naminé replied with a grin. He rolled his eyes and Kairi made a noise in her throat. "Oh come on, sis, it's a joke."

"I know," Kairi said lightly. "I just felt like reminding you that I'm possessive."

"What were you getting back at Naminé for?" Donald asked. "I can't imagine her doing something that bad."

People snorted.

"What she did is not something a lady would discuss in public," Shina declared with a light giggle. "Unless the public discussing it were a tittering gathering of bored women, of course."

"Shina!" Naminé hissed, blushing. "It wasn't like that!"

"Oh?" the elf wife asked, looking at her with amusement plain on her features. "That's not how I remember you telling me what it was for back in the capital of Tyrden. Something to do with a bar counter, if I recall?"

"Shina don't tease them!" Sora pleaded, pausing in his actions and noticing just how much people were listening to the woman. Roxas and Naminé were both pink in the face. "That's not the sort of story we should be talking about with this many ears."

Shina glanced to her right and placed her hand over her mouth, trying to hide a little laugh after seeing Roxas' glowing face. "My apologies, dear. My fun has embarrassed you."

"That's only proven there's something embarrassing to talk about," Asterix answered with a wry grin. "I'm afraid we haven't been introduced yet."

"No, we have not," Shina answered. She placed her hand over her chest just beneath her neck and spoke with gracious charm. "My name is Shina Starbrow, and Roxas is my husband."

"PFFT!" was the sound of numerous drinks being sprayed from mouths, accompanied by the hacks and coughs of those who did not spray but choked instead.

"So how's the tyke?" Shiki asked, looking down the table at Roxas and Shina. "I haven't seen little Iroviel in a while."

"Well she ate breakfast and lunch pretty well today, which is something we were worried about," Roxas admitted. "As for how tomorrow goes, it's anyone's guess."

"Why is her eating a big accomplishment?" Shiki asked, perplexed. "Last I saw her she didn't have any problems eating."

"With all due respect, Shiki," Sora said, "the last time you saw Iroviel she was an infant and would devour anything you put in front of her."

"The last time I saw her she was still breastfeeding," Shiki corrected him.

"Well now that she's basically a toddler she has developed an insane sense of taste," Roxas added. "If the food we put in front of her isn't what she wants it's like the world is coming to an end, and you can't fight a kid with logic because they can't _comprehend_ logic yet."

"And there's only so many times we're willing to use magic to get her to eat," Shina sighed. "There's definitely a number of lines between coddling her, forcing her, disciplining her, and just giving in that we're discovering day by day." Shina gave Sora a stern look. "And giving her snacks whenever she wants is something a certain uncle needs to _stop_."

"But she's so cuuute," Kairi said, defending Sora. "How's this big lug supposed to say 'no' to a face like hers?"

"Just wait until she's older and I spoil her with a pony!" Sora threatened.

"She's not cute when she's screaming her lungs out," Yuffie muttered.

"You're going to be in the same boat before you know it, Yuffie," Jastra commented from the other end of the table while helping herself to a tasty looking garden salad, her excellent elf hearing helping her discern Yuffie's mutter even above the sounds of the rest of the table and hall's conversation. Kairi gasped.

"Yuffie! Are you pregnant?"

"If she is, this is the first I've heard of it," Riku said. He looked at his wife. "Are you?" There was something in his voice, was it hesitancy or anxious expectancy?

Yuffie both shot him down and relieved him. "No! I'm not pregnant. We're not having a kid yet, Riku, so don't wor…" she stopped after seeing his face, and laughed a little while smiling sympathetically. "Aw, I didn't know you wanted to be a daddy that much. Why don't we talk about it after we've punched out Maleficent?"

"Aw, look. Ye made yer hubby sad, Yuffie," Melbil teased.

"Well if I did it's your fault, Jastra!" Yuffie said, looking way down the table at her elf friend. Jastra raised her goblet and smirked.

"Always glad to help!"

"I-I-I-I'm sorry, but can-can I just break in here?" Jasmine asked before quickly thanking Sora as she was passed boar meat. She took a deep breath and then looked at Roxas and Shina. "You two are married."

"Yes," they said, glancing at each other and tapping their goblets together at Shina's non-verbal suggestion.

"And you have a baby?"

"Well she's basically a toddler right now," Roxas replied. "She's almost two, but she's a half-elf so she develops a bit more slowly than a full human kid would and faster than a full elf."

"She didn't stop breastfeeding until about six months ago," Shina added. She smiled at Roxas. "That was a big day."

"That _was_ a big day," he agreed.

Jasmine then turned to Riku and Yuffie. "You two are married."

"To love. To kiss. To sweetly hold. For the dancing and the dreaming," Yuffie confirmed.

"Through all life's sorrows and delights," added Riku, kissing her on the cheek.

Jasmine then looked at the four at the centre of the table. "So what about you four?"

"Does Sora have a harem now or something?" Aladdin asked. "You showed up with a lot of women with you."

Kairi laughed while Sora blushed. "I bet he _wishes_ he had a harem, but I believe I heard someone say that he won't grant wishes for people to fall in love with anybody else. However, no, we are not married, or even engaged, yet. We're holding off until the right time, I think. It's either that or I'm imagining a conversation we never had and we're just waiting until one of us decides to propose."

Sora coughed.

"While I cannot deny that the thought of a harem is...appealing," he began cautiously whilst evading the subject of proposal, "Kairi's the only one I want or need. My luck probably also wouldn't be any better no matter how many women I'm in a relationship with, and if I _were_ to have a harem I'd need at least two catgirls in it and some other people I shall refrain from mentioning."

"See, that's Neku's problem," Shiki said. "I keep telling him I want a threesome with a catgirl and he just can't get the appeal of it. Oh, Neku Sakuraba is my boyfriend, by the way. You haven't met him; he didn't come here with me."

"And what about you, Kairi?" Sora asked. She looked at him, voicing her confusion.

"Hm? What do you mean, what about me?"

"Would you like to have a harem?" Shiki inquired. "And specifically would you like catgirls?"

"Hm, while I told you already that I want you and only you, Sora," Kairi began slowly, thinking. "If I were to have a reverse harem of male lovers, I'd need you as my chief consort and then one or two dogboys." Some glanced at Goofy, and Kairi blushed and hurried to correct herself. "No! I mean humans with dog features. Like how catgirls have cat ears and tails I'm like... sorry, _I'd_ like, guys with dog ears and tails."

"What's with you three and your obsession over animal people?" Naminé asked. Eyes then turned to Naminé staring at her and silently demanding her to speak up on her own relationships. She briefly glanced at Roxas and Shina before looking away with a bit of a blush. "It's complicated," she said sharply, cutting off questioning, and then busied her mouth with food and drink, indicating that that was all she was going to say on the subject.

"You're blushing, Naminé," Sora teased.

"Shut your trap, wannabe Harem King!"

There was some laughter at the playful back-and-forth between Sora and Naminé, and from an outsider's perspective they really looked more like siblings than any kind of master/servant relationship that they said had developed.

Sora finished serving up the boar to any at the table to wanted any and all the food and sauces were passed around as the thirty two at the table steadily ate and drank their fill. Though many were chatting lightly about this and that and various things of non-importance—including a conversation between Jenny and the man directly across from her, Prince Alexander, that seemed inaccessible to any but the two of them—Jasmine brokered the beginnings of one that meant quite a lot to several at the table.

"So, Shiki, when they announced you, they said you were the Keyblade Master of the Realm of Darkness. Is that true?"

Shiki finished chewing and swallowing what was in her mouth and took a sip from her goblet. She looked at it in disappointment for a moment, having now mostly finished her first cup of mead, before bringing her gaze to the Arabian princess. Shiki smiled disarmingly. "Yep! Shiki Misaki, Wielder of the Reverse Kingdom Key and Keyblade Master of Akihabara of the Realm of Darkness at your service. Well, technically not at _your_ service, at _his_ service," she amended, poking Sora in his shoulder and forgetting that he was wearing a mail shirt.

"I'm surprised," Belle said. "I didn't think I'd get to meet someone from the Realm of Darkness, nor did I think she'd be friends with you, Sora."

"Yeah, Sora and I are tight," Shiki declared, twisting her index and middle fingers together.

"Saving each other's lives a few times kinda does that," Sora agreed.

"So what's the Realm of Darkness like?" Jasmine asked.

"Dark," Shiki answered, and then finished off her goblet of mead.

"Oh…" Jasmine said quietly, anxiety and disappointment at the bluntness and simplicity of Shiki's answer dimming her enthusiasm.

Shiki's neutral expression held for a few seconds until Sora started to crack up next to her, at which point she snorted before laughing for a few seconds. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I used the same joke on Sora when he asked. I've told Sora about the Realm of Darkness and he's told me about the Realm of Light and what I can tell you is that they're actually pretty much the same. The only real difference is that us in the Realm of Darkness have a greater affinity for using the powers of darkness because it's much more pervasive in everything. At the same time, we know a lot more about how to use it and how to protect ourselves from its corrupting influence, just as you in the Realm of Light know more about using light and how to keep it from influencing you into becoming some 'holier-than-thou' jackass."

"Then what about the Heartless?" Aladdin asked. "Where did they come from?"

Shiki's mirth from her prior joke evaporated and her face became serious as she looked down at her plate. "They've always been there, as far as I know. They're more docile than here, but they're stronger, and more numerous, and they still hunger for our hearts. They show up in our worlds from time to time, when they get past the barriers and the wardens."

"Barriers and wardens?" Goofy asked. "Gawrsh, Shiki, yer making it sound like the Heartless are prisoners or sumthin'."

"Uh...how can I, uh, explain this? Um…?" Shiki glanced at her hands in a loss for a moment before she looked at Sora, seeking inspiration. She found it by stealing his plate. "Okay, imagine these two plates are our Realms. Mine here is going to represent Light and Sora's Darkness, just to mess with you."

The heads of those listening to this explanation nodded, including Kairi, Naminé, Riku, and Yuffie. Sora hadn't even shared this information with them yet.

Shiki placed the plates close to one another, but not touching, and Sora also tugged his back a little bit so he could still access his food better. "Okay, now this space here between them," she quickly drained the very last drops of mead still sitting at the bottom of her goblet before overturning it so that the cup was balanced on the edges of both plates. "This is Kingdom Hearts. It touches and bridges our Realms. It's where all of our hearts come from, it's where they all go, usually; and it's the afterlife us Keyblade Wielders go to when we snuff it. It's also Light; it's the main source of Light energy in the Realm of Darkness. Through Kingdom Hearts we're all connected.

"Now, let's say that the food on our plates are the worlds of our Realms: Radiant Garden, Destiny Islands, Akihabara, Elder Tale, whatever, and the gravy we have here that's connecting all of them is the Sea of Worlds that has been around since The World was destroyed, on both sides. The hearts of children that made the worlds on your side here in the Realm of Light left pieces of The World behind in the Realm of Darkness, which became our Worlds after enough Light gradually came back to them from Kingdom Hearts to reform them. I hear some are shadow or imitation versions of your own worlds, but I haven't been around enough to know if that's true or not. But in any case, you were asking about the Heartless."

Shiki looked around for a few seconds, searching for some kind of prop she could use that would suit her explanation. Again, she found inspiration in her neighbour to her left. "Sora, could I borrow your glove?" He looked at her for a moment before giving a consenting, "sure," taking off his right glove. Shiki promptly scrunched it up into a ball and placed it on the edge of Sora's plate, touching her goblet, and letting the pinkie finger reach out to just touch her plate.

"We call this the uninspired name of the Shadow Zone. Here there be Heartless. It's part of the Realm of Darkness but also not. It rubs up to Kingdom Hearts, constantly trying to snuff it out and never succeeding, but Kingdom Hearts can also act as a doorway into it."

"That explains why there were so many Heartless behind that door we closed," Donald said.

"Right," she agreed. "Now, Sora and I have talked about this a lot, and here's the theory we came up with. The Shadow Zone just barely reaches here, into the Realm of Light," Shiki continued, pointing out the tip of the glove's pinkie. "It's because of this that the Sea of Worlds in both our Realms is dangerous to travel without special protection; we run the risk of darkness' corruption or being attacked by Heartless from the Shadow Zone. It's also the tiny conduit most of your Heartless come through. As far as I know, your best protection from them so far has just been the size of the breach. It's small, compared to the size of the Shadow Zone in the Realm of Darkness. Your issue only really arose because the Keyblade War orchestrated by your 'No Heart' Xehanort guy wiped out all of your Wielders and then he managed to get researchers here to bring that bit of the Shadow Zone into the Realm of Light, completely shattering the barriers between worlds and making it much easier for the Heartless to move around in. It makes sense when you think about it. You didn't have a Heartless problem at all before the Keyblade War.

"On our end, we did. It was endemic, because the Shadow Zone is there, but not. It's really difficult to actually get to, even though it seems to touch everywhere at once, and yet be nowhere when you look for it. So when Wielders from here were banished because they used Darkness, they, and their successors and pupils, or at least the ones that didn't actually go bad anyway, dedicated themselves to finding a solution to our problem with the Heartless. They eventually managed to create the Veil. It's a barrier that surrounds the Shadow Zone in the Realm of Darkness, severely limiting the ability of the Heartless to get out. There are weak spots, though, and occasionally Heartless do manage to get out and start up a population of Heartless outside the Veil. These breaks had been dealt with by the Wardens, most of which were Keyblade Wielders and were led by the last person who was Master of the Reverse Kingdom Key, but then along came the Keyblade War and they were wiped out too, just like the Chasers were on your side."

Shiki shook her head as she finished and Sora subtly nodded his head.

"It all boils down to Xehanort," he said. "We can deal with Maleficent first, because she's the threat right now, but when that's done we've got to work on tracking down wherever Xehanort went and preparing for his next move."

"Meanwhile we need to work on Heartless containment and dealing with the Lightborne," Shiki said. "You're lucky you don't have a problem with them yet, but it's probably only a matter of time. I wouldn't put it past Xehanort to find them and stir them up over here to harass you."

"We'll need to increase our numbers, though," Kairi said. "The new Wielders we have from today is a good start, but we're going to have to organize and develop a base of operations like the Chasers had."

Mickey remained silent throughout the ensuing discussion, in which the Princesses and their partners got deeply involved as well, along with Donald and Goofy. They weren't just speaking vague ideas; there was a depth of logistical planning in the conversation. Roxas now knew how to forge their armour, and had brought enough raw material and previously smelted ingots to provide enough sets for a hundred people. They already had seed money set aside and had various ideas on how to fund themselves, and Riku had apparently made contacts and was working on designing a combination training ground and fortress.

They weren't children anymore. They were young adults now, trying to put their best foot forward in a dangerous profession in order to succeed. That was the biggest tone shift Mickey noticed. They weren't treating being Keyblade Wielder as just an obligation as something to do in their off time anymore. The way they were speaking now gave the impression that they understood what it was and what it meant. It was a _job_ ; it was _their_ job, and they were developing a system so that they could do that job as best as they could.

The conversion died down after some time, and when Yuffie had concluded that she'd eaten and drunk all she could and finished speaking her piece she politely excused herself from the table while producing a fiddle and bow seemingly from nowhere.

"Oh mister DJ," Yuffie called, striding up to the man overseeing the music. "Tone it down for a bit; I want to play." Seeing this high class lady with a violin at the ready, the man shrugged and turned down the volume of what was currently playing through the audience chamber, which was serving as nothing much more than background noise. Its absence, however, was immediately noticed, and heads turned to find the cause.

Yuffie grinned as eyes fell upon her, and she placed bow to string.

"What's Yuffie doing?" Tifa asked, quickly reaching the head table. "She can't play the violin."

"Oh really?" Riku asked, sipping mead with nonchalance. "Weren't you listening to her play during the battle? Listen."

Yuffie leapt into a hearty jig, her fiddle a stark contrast to the assortment of low-key jazz and blues that had been permeating the room before. People stopped to watch her play and started clapping in time, getting encouraged by watching her spin, kick, juke, and jive to her own rhythm. Yuffie's old friends watched in awe and wonderment at the joy she seemed to take in her performance.

Yuffie stopped after her third song to much applause and then cried out, "Kairi! It's time! I NEED your help!"

Kairi laughed back as the hall looked to her. "I am not yet drunk enough to do that here, Yuffie!" Kairi answered. "Besides, it's totally inappropriate for the Princess Royal to sing it in public like this."

"Aw come on!" Yuffie implored her. "It'll be fun! We won't tell anyone, right guys?"

The crowd of soldiers cheered in the affirmative. Kairi shook her head, but they kept calling for her. They were interested; they wanted to see and hear it.

"Pass it down," Melbil muttered. She'd poured something into a shot glass. It got passed down the table to Sora, who grinned in recognition of the beverage on sight, before giving it to Kairi, who looked at the liquid and sniffed it. Her eyes widened as her nostrils cleared, recognizing it instantly.

"Gutbreaker?"

"Did ye forget we brought some?" Melbil asked.

"Will that get you drunk enough?" Sora parroted. Kairi smiled to herself in resignation.

"Alright!" she told the chanting masses. "You win!" she tipped back the shot and stood up, staying still for a few seconds. "Yep. I can feel that one alright."

She began making her way to Yuffie, and Donald and Goofy looked at Sora. "Is she gonna be okay?" Goofy asked. "She's not walking exactly straight."

"Kairi's fine," Sora answered. "There's enough alcohol in Dwarven Gutbreaker Fire Ale to kill a moose but it won't down Kairi."

"Really?"

"No. It's just really really strong booze; and she only had a shot. She's fine."

Kairi reached Yuffie to further claps and cheers. "I'm going to make a disclaimer here!" Kairi declared. "For full warning! This is a bawdy tavern song! No matter what words come out from my mouth out is about chickens! Chickens! And please, absolutely no video recording devices! If you do record this, I will find you, and I will go Dragon on you! It will not be over quickly, and you will not enjoy it!" She looked at Yuffie.

"After you," Yuffie said, and prepared herself. Kairi took in a deep breath.

"This'll be good," Naminé said in anticipation, leaning back in her chair and taking a sip of red wine from her refilled goblet.

" _Some folks have a pussy,"_ Kairi started. _"A bunny or a bitch.  
_ _Some folks have a little ass,  
_ _With fleas that make them itch.  
_ _But me? I raise chickens,  
_ _And I've a favourite one!  
_ _He's Dick, my little cockerel  
_ _But I don't know where he's gone!_

 _Has anybody seen my cock?  
_ _My big West Chester Red?  
_ _He's mostly pink with a little bit of blue  
_ _And purple around his head.  
_ _He stands straight up in the morning  
_ _And gives me quite a shock!  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen my cock?"_

"They're certainly enjoying it," Riku said, hearing the laughter and clapping in time.

"I kinda hope someone _is_ recording it," Sora said. "For posterity's sake."

"What in the world is she singing?" Mickey asked, eyes poppingly wide.

"Just what she said; a bawdy tavern tune."

" _He's a plucky little fellow,  
_ _He stands straight up for me.  
_ _He'll raise his head again and again;  
_ _It fills my heart with glee.  
_ _He greets me every morning  
_ _with his 'cock-a-doodle-do'!  
_ _But now that he's gone I miss him  
_ _And my coop is feeling blue._

 _Has anybody seen my cock?  
_ _My big West Chester Red?  
_ _He's mostly pink with a little bit of blue  
_ _And purple around his head.  
_ _He stands straight up in the morning  
_ _And gives me quite a shock!  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen my cock?_

 _His two enormous waddles  
_ _Hang proudly down below.  
_ _His beak is curved exactly right;  
_ _The best you'll ever know.  
_ _He crows just in the perfect spot  
_ _And he always hits the 'G'.  
_ _He struts around the chicken coop  
_ _But he always comes with me!_

 _Has anybody seen my cock?  
_ _My big West Chester Red?  
_ _He's mostly pink with a little bit of blue  
_ _And purple around his head.  
_ _He stands straight up in the morning  
_ _And gives me quite a shock!  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen my cock?_

 _I looked inside a chicken coop  
_ _And there I chanced to see…  
_ _A dozen cocks lined in a row  
_ _Just waiting there for me.  
_ _So now I have a different cock  
_ _For each day of the week.  
_ _Oh if my Dick would come back home  
_ _My life would be complete!_

 _Has anybody seen my cock?  
_ _My big West Chester Red?  
_ _He's mostly pink with a little bit of blue  
_ _And purple around his head.  
_ _He stands straight up in the morning  
_ _And gives me quite a shock!  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen my cock?_

 _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen...  
_ _Has anybody seen my cock?"_

She and Yuffie finished with a bow to cheers, whistles, and applause. "I am so disappointed in you all," Yuffie jokingly chastised them.

"Some people say songwriting's a craft," Kairi declared. "Utter garbage!"

"Yer an army of dirty-minded perverts!" laughed Melbil.

"Each and every one of you!" Jastra added.

"It was about chickens!" Jenny shouted, pulling out her staff. "Chickens!" with a loud _bang_! A dozen chickens emerged from the tip of her staff, flying through the air on the audience chamber. Chickens couldn't fly, however, and they plummeted back to the ground into the heads of the laughing revelers. Once they hit, though, the chickens exploded into showers of gold, red, and white sparkles that, at Jenny's direction, reformed in the air into the image of a giant rooster, which crowed a mighty "cock-a-doodle-do!" before bursting apart again as a firework.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted towards the head table. "Come dance with me! I wish to dance!"

Smiling at his beloved, Sora rose from his seat and glanced around at the table. "Well, shall we?" His friends nodded, and the entirety of the table rose to take to the floor or to hang around the punch bowls for the single and socially awkward.

Shina caught Roxas looking meaningfully at Naminé's back and smiled at her husband. "Go ahead," she told him. "I won't be lonely if I miss a dance or two."

"Really?" Roxas asked.

"Yes," Shina assured him. "It's alright, but I do expect a turn, too." Roxas kissed his sorceress wife on the cheek.

"You're the best," he whispered. "Thanks."

Sora reached Kairi and took her hand. "You're sure?" he asked.

"If I can fight on this leg I can dance on this leg," Kairi boasted confidently. Roxas and Naminé then joined them, a bright smile on Naminé's face, and the four were joined by the halfling couple of Kal and Lotte, and even by Riku and Shiki.

"You don't mind if I borrow your husband for a bit, do you?" Shiki asked Yuffie.

"Go ahead," Yuffie said. "He's all mine for the rest of the night anyway, but I'm charging you three silvers a dance."

Shiki made a pouty face. "So stingy. Fine, then. Riku, if I'm paying for you, you'd better give me a good performance." Riku chuckled and rolled his eyes, submitting to their whims.

Yuffie placed her bow to string again, and the dancing began, heralding what some called the true start to the celebrations in the audience chamber of the castle, which lasted long into the night.

-A-D-

 _So that's the end of that chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it!_

 _Just a reminder, if you are submitting questions to be asked of the characters in the next chapter at their interview session, the deadline is the 15_ _th_ _of June, which, funnily enough, is the deadline for sole proprietors to submit their personal income tax and GST/HST returns in Canada. Imagine that. You can submit your questions by review, PM, Facebook post, or by adding them anonymously to the shared document on Google Drive, the link to which is in the Facebook group._

 _Have a happy June everyone! See you in July!_

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


	5. Radiant Garden V

_And here we have it, folks, another chapter of_ _ **The Annals of Darkness**_ _! We shouldn't be hanging around Radiant Garden too much longer now, but there are some housekeeping issues that our cast need to sort out first before they can ship out. You know how it is._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or any of the other already licensed works that make appearances within._

-A-D-

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter 5: Radiant Garden V

Despite the partying, guards were still posted out in the snowy cold, keeping watch. They may have beaten back an entire army of Heartless, and the Claymores may have still been active, but they weren't about to take any chances. The very worst thing that could happen would be an attack right now, when everyone's guard was relaxed.

"So remind me again why I'm stuck out here with you instead of partying inside with a bunch of hot chicks?" one soldier asked another.

"Beats me," said the other. "I'd rather be sleeping. I must have used up enough energy today for, like, two weeks' worth of nap time in a warm bed. It's too fucking cold out here."

"You know what would really warm me up? Tifa. I'm like, totally a war hero now, and chicks dig war heroes, especially busty barmaids like her. They're always throwing themselves at war heroes."

"Dude, you want to try going after _her_? You know she's like a serious martial artist, right? She'd kick your ass without breaking a sweat."

"I could do a lot more to her ass without breaking a sweat; bow-chika-bow-wow."

"It's your funeral if you try it, but hey, I could use a good laugh."

"What? You don't want to get with her? She's single, dude. C'mon. Show some balls."

"I prefer my balls not to get crushed in a vice-grip, thanks."

"Lame."

"Hey, if you really want to, go ahead. I won't stop you. But when you crash and burn, just know that I will always be here to laugh in your face and tell you 'I told you so' for the rest of your life."

"Hey what's that?"

"Huh? What's what?"

The two paused for a couple of seconds.

"I thought I heard something," the first one said.

"Well I didn't hear anything," the second replied.

"Listen! There it is again! It sounds like footsteps."

"I still don't know what you're talking about. It's as quiet as the first day after I moved out was. No parents or annoying sister. Ah, good times."

"You've got a sister?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Is she hot?"

"Dude, she's my _sister!_ "

"So? I don't judge."

"I thought you were worried about that noise?"

"You said you didn't hear it!"

"I _didn't_ hear it. You just made such a big deal out of it that I figured you _had_ to check it out."

"I'd rather be checking your sister out! Bow-chika-bow-w-OW! Hey, what was that for!?"

"Dude, seriously. If I ever see you anywhere near my sister, I am shooting you in the balls. Now let's check out this dumb noise of yours. The sooner we find out it was nothing, the sooner I can get to the food, and then sleep off a food coma for the next week."

The two of them moved in the direction the first one had thought he'd heard the noise. "It was right around here," said the first as they stopped. "I'm sure it came from around here somewhere."

The second one looked around.

"Well, looks like nothing's here. Time to report back that we didn't find anything, and then head to the chow hall."

"I thought you wanted to sleep?"

"Yeah, but then I got to thinking. They're having a massive feast and party right now. When's the next time I'll be able to eat that good? So, I eat myself into a coma, and then nobody can yell at me for not attending to my duties because I'm unconscious. Everybody wins."

"That does sound like a fine plan," a third voice said.

"I know, right? Wait. Who said that?"

The two of them turned around, finding a man wearing a fedora standing behind them. They backed up, shouting.

"Jesus Christ! Where the fuck did you come from!?"

"Yeah, don't sneak up on us like that!"

"My apologies," said the man, "but you'll have to excuse my 'sneaking' considering I'm in the heart of enemy territory."

"Huh? Enemy territory?" the second guard asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Wait, I think I recognize you. You're one of those Maximus Rectum guys the Keyblade people are having all their one-on-one fights with."

"Wait, you're one of _those_ guys? Fuck. Why did _I_ have to run into you?"

"What are you talking about?" the first guard asked him. "This is a big opportunity for us."

"Yeah, a big opportunity to _die_."

"No way, dude. If we capture him, we'd get, like, royal medals of heroism and shit."

"Capture him? Ugh. That sounds like work. Why should I expend energy and die when I could not do anything and get killed all the same?"

"Killing and capturing won't be necessary," the fedora man said. "My name is Xokor and I'm only here to talk. Can you bring Sora to me?"

"Hey, nobody asked you," the first guard said. "You're our prisoner now, so shut the fuck up." He turned to his partner. "Okay, I'm going to go tell Sora that What's-his-nuts here is our prisoner, so you stand guard over him and don't let anybody else find out."

"Stand guard? This guy's a high level Nobody. How am I supposed to guard him?"

"I don't know, tie him up or something."

"With what!?" the second guard asked as the first one ran back towards the castle. "I don't have a rope, jackass!" But the first guard was already gone and didn't answer.

The two of them stood silently in awkward silence for a few seconds before the guard turned to Xokor. "Hey, I will give you five hundred munny for you to just stand there and tell everybody that I had you in an armbar this whole time."

"I can do that," Xokor answered.

"Great. You didn't kill me, and I can get a medal for not doing shit. I can already tell that this is going to be an okay relationship of necessity between us, so let's keep it that way."

-A-D-

This was it. This was finally the moment. They were ready; they were really going to do it this time. Everything was prepared. They'd built up their appetite over the past eighteen minutes, getting each other nice and ready in anticipation for it. This was a monumental occasion for the two of them, and rushing it was not an option that was ever on the table. After all, they'd failed even trying for quick ones in their past 252 attempts. What would be the point of all those failures if they only succeeded in setting themselves up for a poor experience?

So, naturally, they were delivered yet another interruption when there came a knock at the door.

The couple emitted noises of disappointment that were half sighs and half groans.

"Curses," Sora said. "Foiled again."

"But we were _so_ close this time," Kairi groaned, putting her hands on her head and dragging them down. "What is it?"

The door opened before either of them could say anything to the contrary, and an armoured soldier was standing there. "Whoa! Was not expecting to see this when I came over here. Looks like the people upstairs aren't the only ones partying, bow-chika-bow-wow."

"Who are you?"

"That's not important. You look busy, and I'd hate to come between you and banging a hot redhead. I think I've got the wrong room anyway. Can you tell me where Sora is? I've got a message for him."

"I am Sora," Sora answered.

"Dude, seriously? I know you've got the crazy hair and everything, but Sora's still just a baby-faced teenage heartthrob that chicks go crazy over because he saved the worlds and junk. Besides, you can't be Sora, because he's with Princess Kairi. And yeah, she may be hot enough that I'd consider doing her, but I also don't want to go to jail for it; plus she's also nowhere near as hot as the girl you have right now."

"But I'm—"

"And trust me dude, if you _were_ Sora, you'd definitely be able to get yourself, like, ten women a day, at minimum. Now seriously, where can I find the guy? I've got a medal riding on this."

Sora and Kairi stared at him for several seconds, completely dumbfounded. They looked at each other, then back at him, then back at each other, then back to him.

"Are you for real?" Kairi asked him.

"Babe, I'm always real. Hey, maybe after I tell Sora that I captured Xokor, I can come back and show you just how real I get, bow-chika-bow-wow."

"You captured Xokor!?" both Sora and Kairi shouted, rising in disbelief. "How? Where is he?"

The soldier stood there and looked between the two of them. "Hey, what's up with your arm and your leg?"

"That doesn't matter!" Sora said as Kairi's armour, in the corner of the room, glowed with light before disappearing and then materializing on her body. He summoned his own onto his body in a flash, all thoughts of what he and Kairi had been trying to do vanishing from his mind. "Where is he?"

"Wait, I recognize that armour," the soldier said slowly, looking over the two of them again. "Holy shit! You weren't fucking kidding! You really are Sora!"

"That's what I told you," Sora said, a little bit of his frustration leaking into his voice.

"Then that means that you're…"

"Kairi, yes."

There was a pause.

"Damn, Your Royal Hotness, you got crazy super fine."

"Thank you. Growing into adulthood, staying fit, and being a general badass tends to do that to you. Now can you answer Sora's question."

"Sure. He's just outside. Don't worry; I left a guard with him."

"Lead the way," Sora said, gesturing to the door.

"And if you tell anyone what you saw you can kiss your medal goodbye."

"You can't do that," scoffed the soldier to Kairi's threat. "That's an abuse of power."

"And your comments were sexist and could very easily be labeled as derogatory and offensive, putting your eligibility at question. So if you keep quiet, I'll keep quiet, and we both walk away happy, capiche?"

"Understood, ma'am. Hey, when I get my medal, would it be too much to ask for an autographed picture of you in a bikini? You know, as a memento for the occasion."

-A-D-

Riku and Yuffie met up with Sora, Kairi, and their guard escort at the castle's entrance hall, along with Plato, Wispy, Aiwemon, and Menelmon. "Oh good, he found you," Riku said as the three of them approached. "Have you seen Naminé?"

"No, why?" Kairi asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Yuffie answered. "We just thought that she and Roxas should be here when we question him, and we can't find them anywhere."

"You won't," Sora said. "Trust me. If Naminé doesn't want to be found, she won't be until whatever illusion she's using is dispelled."

"Really? Huh. Kinda like me, then," Yuffie wondered. "Well, let's get going then." The others nodded and started to move out, following the guard who had gathered them all.

Xokor was standing with another guard a short distance away from the castle, but still out of sight of anyone who could have been looking. He jerked away from the guard who was standing with him, as if to express distaste. "Thank you for coming so expediently. Your 'friend' had me locked in an armbar while you were gone."

"Dude, really?" asked the first guard.

"What? I can do my job when I want to. Come on, man, give me at least _some_ credit."

"That was very brave of you, especially against so strong a Nobody," Kairi said. "As long as _someone_ keeps his mouth shut, I'll make sure you both get commendations."

The second guard looked at the first. "What'd you do?"

"What? What are you looking at me for? I didn't do anything."

"Riiiight," Kairi murmured.

"So what do you want?" Aiwemon asked Xokor. "Maleficent's Nobodies don't often come around to talk."

"I am glad to see that you are looking well," Xokor answered. "Your performance this afternoon was magnificent."

"I don't know whether I should thank you or attack you," Riku said.

"And not all of us are 'well', Xokor," Kairi replied. "I lost a leg in that _Tower_ you sent us to."

"My sincerest apologies, Princess," Xokor replied, "but you must admit that you emerged from your trials stronger, and with even more allies under your banner."

"Wait, is this guy on our side?" asked the first guard.

"That's what I'd like to know!" Menelmon said. "Kairi got hurt really bad because of what you did. Give me one reason why we should trust you!"

"Is my presence here, alone, and unarmed, not enough?"

"Not really," Kairi declared, "especially considering some of the things your mistress has had done to our families."

"I must admit," Xokor sighed, "I had been expecting a less hostile audience, considering your acceptance of Cossex's defection."

"Are you offering the same?" Sora asked him. "Nobodies changing sides seems to be all the rage. How can we trust you?"

"Consider what I granted you this afternoon," Xokor said. "My ability is to be able to send anyone to any dimension or space I so desire, being unable to leave where they have been banished to until they meet certain prerequisites. In essence, I move you to a separate board that you cannot leave until you reach the end and are promoted."

"Ugh, chess metaphors," groaned the first guard who'd held him in an armbar.

"By your own words today," Xokor continued, "you spent three years growing and learning in the span of little more than two hours here. That would not have been possible without my assistance."

"And because of your _assistance_ , my best friend is dead!" Kairi retorted. "Lexai killed her!" she added, starting towards him. "If you hadn't-! If I'd been here for her she wouldn't have-!" Sora grabbed Kairi by the arm and held her back.

"My apologies," Xokor said, inclining his head and dipping his fedora down to cover his eyes, "but I believe you've dealt with Lexai quite nicely, and in a way that wouldn't have been possible this morning."

"Why you-!" Yuffie started.

"Enough!" Sora said, speaking up. "Xokor, thank you for what you've done for us. We wouldn't have been able to win today if not for your help."

"Sora…" Kairi grumbled.

"Would we have been able to beat twenty Decimators on our own?" Riku asked rhetorically. "We barely managed one before, and half of us went down. If Xokor hadn't sent us off to Mathmagicland, we wouldn't have been able to handle things."

"But-!"

"Kairi, is this you, or the Gutbreaker talking?" Sora asked. She stopped and stared at him for a few seconds before gently removing herself from his grasp.

"You're right. I am in no fit state to be having this conversation." She turned to Xokor. "I owe you an apology. My behaviour has been unacceptable."

"Apology accepted," Xokor said to her.

"I will be in my room," Kairi declared. "Sora, when you're done, wake me if I'm asleep and tell me how this goes."

"I will," he agreed with a nod. Sora turned to the first guard, the one who'd found them. "Escort the princess back to her chambers, and then get some time off at the feast."

"All right! Thanks dude. Right this way your ladyship."

"I'm warning you that if you touch me inappropriately you can kiss your medal goodbye."

"It'd be worth it."

"What if I turned your junk into ash?"

"Less worth it."

As soon as Kairi was away, the remainder turned to the second guard. "Thanks for your hard work. You can go to the feast too."

"For real? Thanks. About time somebody appreciated all my hard work." He ran off back to the castle.

"Now that we're alone, what do you want, Xokor?"

The Nobody smiled.

-A-D-

Morning came, and with the dawning of a new day came the rays of hope for the populace of Radiant Garden, and all who had heard the news of the victory. So too came the sobering thoughts of all that had been sacrificed to achieve that victory.

For one person, however, her thoughts were far from all of that.

When Naminé woke, at the outset she felt very fine and pleased. Her night had been spectacular. She was well-rested and practically glowing, as if she'd been worshipped like royalty the night before which, in all honesty, she had been.

It was when she remembered what happened that her mood came crashing back down to bedrock.

 _Oh gods, what have I done?_

Quickly and quietly, Naminé gathered her things and left the room she'd slept in, heading straight for another. Even at this early hour, she knew he wouldn't begrudge her company, and would always lend his ear to her troubles. Naminé knocked on the door and waited patiently, biting her lower lip and going over what she was going to say.

After a short time that seemed longer than it really was, Sora answered the door, dressed in a white night shirt and pants with a robe loosely sitting on his shoulders. He looked bedraggled at first, but she must have been looking quite distressed for his face to wake up instantly. "Naminé? What is it? What's wrong?"

"I did it again," Naminé mumbled quietly, her voice catching in her throat. Gods, why did this upset her so much? The way she was approaching Sora was as if she were a child who'd wet the bed and was anticipating punishment.

Sora sighed in sympathy and gave her a small smile that made Naminé feel only a little bit better. "Alright. Come in and let's talk."

Naminé peered behind him into the room. She could see the glow of Plato snoozing on the canopy of the bed, and thankfully not setting it ablaze. She seized up. "W-with Kairi in the room? I'd rather just keep this between us, Sora."

"Naminé, Kairi's your sister," Sora pleaded. "And she cares and worries about you. She just wants to help you in any way she can, and since we're back in Radiant Garden, I think it's about time you let her in."

Naminé shook her head. Telling Kairi, letting her know what she had done… the thought of what she might think of her afterwards was too terrifying to contemplate. Silently she shook her head. "Please Sora, not now. I want to but I can't...just not now. I can't, please?"

Sighing again, Sora nodded his head in understanding. "Alright. Let's go to an empty room, then. Let me just go and tell Kairi, then I'll be right with you."

As soon as they had entered an empty room for the purposes of their talk, Naminé ensured that the door was locked. The only one present with her and Sora was Erry, her snake familiar; not even Wispy had come with Sora to the discussion, though she had been present numerous times before. Naminé started to pace, barely noticing that Sora had sat down on the foot of the empty bed. "What am I doing, Sora?" she asked, pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes.

"I don't know. What did you do, Naminé?" asked Sora, putting his elbows on his knees and joining his fingers together underneath his chin, watching her.

"I don't know," Naminé replied, distraught. "I don't know _what_ I'm doing, Sora! Roxas is with Shina. She's with Roxas. They're married; they have a _daughter_! I shouldn't…why am I doing this? Why am I messing everything up between them? She's a good person; _Roxas_ is a good person. It's not my fault that they had a kid and fell in love. Why? Why can't I just let go? They got _married_ ; Roxas made it clear that he was making a commitment to her when they did that. Every time I think I'm finally getting over it I drag myself back in and just..." Naminé slumped onto the bed beside Sora. She fell on her back and stared at the ceiling. "I'm so confused."

 _"You're only making it worse for yourself,"_ Erry hissed, slithering up onto the bed.

 _"Shut up,"_ Naminé wearily replied.

"Naminé," Sora probed, "what did you do last night? I know you said that you 'did it again', so I've got an idea, but what actually happened?"

"I danced with Roxas," Naminé replied in a groan. She placed her hands over her eyes again, applying pressure and dragging them down her face. "I danced with Shina. I danced with both of them. Then we left together and you know the rest. We did the same thing that caused this whole mess in the first place; we did the same damn thing that _always_ happens! She always invites me to share their bed, and I _always_ cave and agree like some meek, excitable, puppy. This is so vexing!"

Naminé could 'feel' more than see Sora nodding his head. This was not the first time she'd vented to him about this issue, and it probably would not be the last.

"Naminé, why is it vexing?" Sora asked her.

"Because it is!" she replied, knowing that she was being completely unreasonable. She wasn't sure how to make him understand, because she wasn't sure she herself even understood why it vexed her. "Roxas made his choice! He chose Shina. He freaking married her, so why does he keep coming back to me? Why does he still love me? Why does Shina tolerate it? Hell, she _encourages_ it! And to top it all off, she doesn't hold back and comes on to me as well, and I don't know why but I just don't resist it, like, at all! Is there something wrong with me, Sora?"

"Wrong with you?" Sora asked. "Why would something be wrong with you?"

"Because something has to be wrong or I wouldn't be this upset about everything!" Naminé replied.

 _"You did not feel like you were upset last night,"_ Erry hissed in his snake language, reminding her of the empathic link that the two of them shared; that they could feel the emotions of one another. _"You were like me snoozing on a warm rock in the sun after eating a mouse: blissfully content; over the moon, if the expression's right."_

 _"You stay out of this,"_ Naminé hissed back.

"What did he say?" asked Sora. Naminé translated. "Well then it doesn't sound like anything's wrong." Naminé sat up and looked at him, eyes wide in disbelief of his statement. She opened her mouth to counter, but Sora headed her off. "Naminé, we've been over this for almost two years now, and you know that I'm here for you and I'll happily listen to you whenever you want, but we're back in Radiant Garden now. We're back in our worlds, and…the politics is going to catch up to us soon, whether we like it or not, so we should sort these issues out as soon as possible if we can. We're people with power and we're going to be a hot topic and probably under a lot of scrutiny, especially because of yesterday and what's going to happen, so I think we should try to work on any issues or baggage we have as soon as possible without it leaking to the public, but anyways... I'm rambling, sorry. So, really... I haven't been seeing anything really wrong this entire time since Roxas has not actually _cheated_ on Shina with you, and you're not _trying_ to get him to cheat on Shina with you."

"Then why am I so upset?" Naminé demanded an answer. "Why are they doing this to me? Why am I doing this to myself!? Why-?"

"Naminé, I don't care that you're bi."

Naminé stared at him in complete silence for a good ten seconds. What did Sora just say? _What_ did he just say that she was? "What did you call me?"

Sora frowned and looked a little unnerved. _Good. He should be._ "Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"Yes!" Naminé snapped.

"Well I'm sorry but I'm not sure what it was," Sora said. "I just stated an observation."

"Well you observed wrong!" Naminé retorted angrily. "I'm _not_ bi! Why would you even think that!?"

"Well, you've said that every time Shina propositions you to join her and Roxas, you cave," Sora said. "If I remember right, Shina was the one who convinced you to share Roxas so she could 'thank' him for his part in rescuing her from Ixenmiirik in the first place." Naminé opened her mouth, but Sora forestalled her with a hand. "I'm not done. Please, listen. More often than not, and especially after Shina came back with Iroviel after the Emperor disowned and banished her, you've come to me the morning after each of these romps just like you are this morning, totally distressed and completely confused over your own feelings and what's right and what's wrong. You never did this after you and Roxas got intimate and it only really started happening after Shina got involved. And honestly, Naminé, your orientation isn't going to change how I feel about you one bit, but are you bi?"

"No!" Naminé answered instantly without even giving herself time for any introspective searching now that Sora had put her on the spot. "No I'm not! I can't be! I can't feel that way about another girl! It's biologically unnatural!"

Sora's expression seemed to read 'Oh boy… here we go'.

Ignoring him, Naminé continued to refute his assertion. "I mean, we're both female. Neither of us can get the other pregnant, barring crazy magic or gene splicing science. There's no biological reason why I should find her attractive or get all flushed and excited when she kisses me. And I don't even know if science would work in the first place! She's an elf and I'm human!"

"Doesn't seem to be a problem in the traditional way of getting pregnant," Sora muttered. "So you've kissed?"

Naminé froze up, realizing too late what she'd uttered in her attempt to refute and deny his claim. "NO! I mean, yes… I mean-"

"And you liked it?"

Overwhelmed by the truthful answer to that question, Naminé hung her head and placed her right hand over her forehead as she nodded. She _did_ like it. She could deny it until her lips fell off, but she _liked_ Roxas' wife, and she didn't want to stop having their romps and the outings they'd had before the whole daughter business exploded in their faces, even if it made everything a thousand times more complicated.

"Sora…" Naminé queried, voice shaking, "what do I do? Tell me what to do, please."

"Come here," Sora said softly, and Naminé leaned into him as he wrapped his left arm around her. She was strangely thankful that this was his automail arm. It was solid, and sturdy, if a little short for him now. He sighed as he rubbed her back. "I don't really know what to tell you, Naminé, other than to trust your heart. But no matter what, you're my sister, and I'll always be here for you, and Kairi will be too."

"Sister?"

"Well, yeah," Sora answered her. "I mean, Kairi and I are going to get married _eventually_ , so you'll officially be my in-law, but before any of that you existed because of me, when I released my heart and Kairi's. Not only was Roxas born, but so were you, so, yes. You're my little sister, so I'll always be here for you."

 _Brother? Big...brother?_ Naminé slid deeper into Sora's side, letting him hold her tight. It was selfish, but if she needed another excuse to claim some kind of kinship with him she'd take it and run. _I wonder how he'd…?_

"Onii-chan?"

"No," Sora quickly stated. His face was priceless. "No. No 'onii-chan' out of you. That's for Rei only."

"Onii-sama?"

"No 'onii' _anything!_ "

Naminé giggled. "Alright, big brother." She was quiet for a few more seconds as she formed a question, something that had been stopping her from going to Kairi the entire time in the first place. "Sora? If I told Kairi that...that I liked girls as well as guys; that I liked Shina as well as Roxas, do you think she'd get mad?"

"Mad?" Sora asked. "Why would she get mad?"

Naminé gulped, suddenly regretting that she'd even brought it up. "Well, I know that you're fine with it, but does Kairi...you know… wouldn't she find it weird? Would she think it's the same as I had thought?" Sora's face showed that he understood what she was getting at.

"Ah, well… Shina's been pretty open about the fact that she likes both genders since day one, and Kairi doesn't really have an issue with her, so I think you're fine on that front." He smiled at her, a smile that made Naminé feel a lot better than she had felt when she'd woken up. "I won't tell her anything, so you can open up to her when you're ready, but please remember that Kairi loves you like I do, and she just wants to see you happy."

His lips touched her forehead, and Naminé felt her temperature shoot up through the roof. "K-Keep doing that Sora, and you'll end up a heartbreaker," Naminé warned him. Sora chuckled.

"If a kiss to the forehead is all it takes to get you to fall for me, then you're in worse shape than I thought," he joked.

"Oh stop it, ass," Naminé retorted, very lightly backhanding him, the heat flying away in the face of annoyance.

Sora laughed at the return of the status quo. "That's _Lord_ Ass."

-A-D-

"Roxas? Shina? A minute please?"

The two parents looked up from the table they were at when Sora addressed them. Iroviel was currently sitting on a chair, and, thankfully for them, was actually eating a breakfast of prepared and cut fruits and berries with bits of pancake, under the careful supervision of her mother and Rose. Roxas rose to follow Sora, while Shina quickly told Iroviel that mommy and daddy would be right back.

"What is it?" Shina asked as she approached.

Sora glanced around to ensure that no one else was around or within earshot, and then he took a breath before exhaling slowly.

"How long are you going to wait before you just _tell_ Naminé that you want a polyamorous relationship between the three of you?"

There was a long pause.

"Uh…what?" Roxas asked.

"Every time you two do this, she freaks out and worries that she's interfering in your relationship, or that she's…selfishly butting in to get affection that she thinks she doesn't deserve because she wasn't the one you, Roxas, picked; or, gods above, that something's _wrong_ with her for _liking_ Shina," Sora stated. "So, forgive me for being blunt, but when are you going to just _tell her_ that you want to have a three-way romantic relationship?"

"To be honest, Sora, we have," Shina said awkwardly. "We even said so last night, and at least twice before. It appears Naminé has something of a selective memory when it comes to that." Sora groaned and ran his hands over his face.

" _Greaaat_ , so at least half of this is self-inflicted. Wonderful," he sighed and shook his head. "Well, thanks. Sorry about putting you on the spot, but I just want this issue put to bed before we have our interview on Wednesday."

"Yeah, no problem, Sora," Roxas said. He scratched the back of his head. "And, to be fair, we haven't exactly figured out how that would work yet, either."

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"Well, would Naminé marry me and I would have two wives and she'd be Shina's mistress? Would Shina marry Naminé and she'd be my mistress? Would Shina and I stay married and Naminé is _our_ mistress, or would she marry _both_ of us at once so we're all married? We haven't figured that out yet."

Sora stared at him for a few seconds, contemplating, before shaking his head again. "Anyway, that's something that you two need to talk to Naminé about, preferably when sober and not during some post-canoodling high or something. I'm just bringing it to your attention." Little thunder from the floor sounded, and a toddler ran out of the small dining room directly into Sora's legs.

"Unca Sowa!" Iroviel shouted, grinning up at him. "It's bweakfast time!"

"That's right!" Sora replied, smiling down at her and kneeling to pick her up. "It is breakfast time!"

"I'm...I'm having pa-cakes and bewwies!" she declared as Sora lifted her up into his arms.

"You are?" Sora asked.

"Yup!" she answered with a grin. "And sywup!"

"I can see that; you've got syrup all over your face! I hope you saved me some!"

"Iroviel," Shina called to her daughter, "let's wipe your face and hands off or they'll get all sticky." She shook her head, lip starting to pout and water beginning to pool in the gold-flecked silvery grey eyes she'd inherited from her mother.

"Noo. Don't want to. Not finished yet."

"Why don't we finish breakfast first and then get cleaned up?" Roxas asked. "Will that be okay?"

"Okay," Iroviel said, brightening up instantly now that the threat of getting clean had been revoked...for now.

-A-D-

"Well, boss," Yuffie started, "what's the plan for today?"

Sora looked around the room. They were in the den of the royal apartments with the full complement of the Fearless Wolves 'fighters' that had accompanied him in coming back to Radiant Garden. Of their four staff, Beth and Louise were with Helia and Kensworth, sorting out the supplies and gear they'd brought with them, while Rose and Alisha were keeping Iroviel busy playing with her in the snow.

It was still early in the day, but already the military brass were chomping at the bit to get debriefings and planning sessions started, and he'd also been told that Dr. Fraiser wanted to see all of them for a medical evaluation. Plus there were press outside that were ignoring Kairi's statement about setting up a town hall and were starting to harass castle staff for any information they could get, but of course the staff didn't know anything because none of them were told anything, and Helia and Kensworth were keeping mum on that, to Sora's great relief.

"We've got a full couple of days ahead of us," Sora stated, "and I really don't know how it's all going to fall out, but I know that whatever happens, we can handle it. Now, to put it simply, people are curious about who we, the Fearless Wolves, all are, so we're having a public town hall session in two days where we'll essentially introduce ourselves and answer questions. No offence to the rest of you, but since you're unknown to the people of our worlds, I expect that a lot of the questions that will have already been formed in people's heads by the time they sit down are going to be directed at the six of us who are from around here."

"So by answer questions, what exactly do ye mean?" Melbil asked Sora. "We gonna be having a meet 'n greet and mingle with folks or is it more of an audience?"

"A town hall is…it's kind of going to be like a moderated questions and answers panel," Kairi answered. "We'll all be sitting up at a table with the press and the public seated in the room in front of us, and they'll come forward and ask us their questions and we'll answer them if we're able to."

"So we're holding an audience," Melbil said, nodding. "Alright."

"What kinds of questions will we be expecting?" Sylla asked, her arms folded behind her head and her feet up.

"I don't know," Sora said.

"Though hopefully we'll be provided with some sample questions to vet before the event so we won't be caught completely off-guard," said Kairi. "Most likely the ones you guys from Olomund will field will be personal in nature, since nobody here knows anything about you. Any tough, slippery, or political questions will most likely get thrown our way."

"So start thinking up embarrassing stories to share," Jastra chuckled. "They're probably going to want to get some dirt on their heroes to make 'em personable, right?"

Sora sighed and slumped. "Please don't share anything too embarrassing, alright?"

"That'll be up to us to decide," Lotte told him with something of an evil smile. "I can still remember your first days in the inn."

"So, yeah, that's happening on Wednesday," Riku said, leaning forward and putting his hands together just underneath his chin, "but you still haven't really answered Yuffie, Sora. What's the plan for today?"

"Well, there's a debriefing with King Mickey and the General staff in about twenty minutes," Sora said. "I'm not sure how long that will go for. Also, it looks like a number of senior Senators want to speak with either of the Princesses to go over what their plans are now that we've popped back and went "Surprise! We're nineteen now! That means Kairi and Naminé are of age to sit on the throne". So either or both of them will be taken up with that for who knows how long."

"Hey, when are they arriving anyway?" Kairi asked.

"I'm not sure," Naminé replied, "but I have Agatha watching for them. She'll let us know when they show up. I also think it would be best if at least Kairi shows up to meet them. Personally, I would prefer to be with my lord for the debriefing."

"I am of a different opinion, Naminé," Shina declared. "Though you would like to be by Sora's side for the debriefing, you are in line for the throne and you wish to become the ruler of this kingdom. You _will_ need to explain to your senior bureaucrats and the past aristocracy how you can be trusted to put the Kingdom above your personal fealty to Sora and your duties as a Keyblade Wielder."

"I understand, Shina," Naminé said. "But Kairi also would need to be present at the very least. She is the presumptive heir over me, being the one who was actually born and not a former Nobody, and she needs to inform them of her intention to abdicate her claim."

"Besides that, a doctor we know who has been looking after us for a while wants to get physical examinations done for all of us as soon as possible," Sora continued. "We're going to have to set up a proper meeting with the new Keyblade Wielders and go over what we decide for how we're all going to be organized, _I_ need to find time to go to Amestris to get Winry to make my arm bigger since I've grown…"

"And she's going to just _love_ that," Yuffie said, "since, by her count, she just saw you two days ago."

"And I need to establish myself in the smithy," Roxas added. "I've got some sets of armour done, but I will need to make more for our newbies, and I'm going to need Kairi's help for some of the enchants for them."

Sora scratched his head. "And now that we're back we are so busy it feels like I need an assistant just to keep track of everything."

"You've already got one," Jared pointed out with a smirk. "Her name is Naminé."

"Naminé is my vassal, not my damn secretary." Sora sighed. "So, essentially that's the scope of things. We're being inundated with briefings and meetings and requests for our time. Anything you would like to help out with you are free to do so, but you are also free to just kick back and act like tourists for a bit if you want."

There was quiet for a few seconds, before Jenny readjusted her glasses and innocuously posed a question. "Is, uhm… is Prince Alexander going to be at the briefings?"

"I think so," Sora answered. "I doubt he'd want to miss them, considering that he essentially followed us here in the first place to see what all the fuss we were making was about."

"I see," Jenny said quietly. She made a determined face and nodded her head once to herself. "Okay. I'd like to come with you to the briefings!"

"I will too," Melbil said. "If ye think yer goin' in there without an old soldier at yer side then yer damned crazy."

"'Old soldier'?" Sylla asked rhetorically, fishing out her pipe and putting in her leaf. "What are you, like, eighty years old? Aren't you essentially just a little older than them in dwarf terms?"

"Eighty?" Melbil replied. "Are ye daft, Sylla? I'm only forty-seven!"

"Could have fooled me," she replied cheekily. "With all of your 'glory days' stories I thought for sure you were turning into an old fart."

"Now that's just a bit low, Sylla," Asha said, frowning a little and placing her hand on her hip. "No young woman, be it Halfling, Elf, Deva, Human, or Dwarf, likes to be called an 'old fart'."

"I think Sylla should get that doctor friend of yours to look at her first," Kal chuckled. "She's not too right in the head."

"What do you mean by that?" Sylla asked, lighting her pipe before taking a puff.

"What kind of a halfling chooses to be a battlerager? That's reserved for crazy dwarves, not tiny, delicate people such as ourselves."

"I'm not so delicate when I'm covered head-to-toe in spike-riddled plate," Sylla return-fired. "If anything, your girlfriend there and the angel are the crazy ones."

"Why is that?" Lotte asked, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance at being called crazy by a crazy.

"Need we remind you what you two have done?" Sora asked with a shudder. Riku and Yuffie burst out laughing.

"Oh gods, _that_! That was hilarious!"

"You're pure evil," Kairi said in a low voice, trembling at the memory. She drew her Keyblade and faced them. "By the light and grace of Athena, I will purge you of your wicked taint."

Some of them rolled their eyes. "Oh stop being so melodramatic, Kairi," Jared said. "Nobody actually got hurt and to be honest, what they did makes us money."

"Makes us _lots_ of money," Jenny added, rubbing her fingers together and grinning.

"Only because we had Roxas managing half of it," Melbil said, nodding at him.

Kairi dismissed her Keyblade. "I know, just... _eww_!"

A loud noise filled the room. Roxas had slapped an end table. "Back on topic," he said, "has everyone else figured out their moves?"

"Before that," Yuffie said. "Does anyone know where Shiki went? She was still here last night."

"Oh, we sent her home this morning," Sora said. "She had breakfast then went back to the Realm of Darkness."

"She was all eager to show off that she got her Keyblade back to her team," Kairi added.

"Well good for her," Yuffie said. "I'm glad that King Mickey didn't want to be a stubborn mule about it. Anyway, I'm going to try to meet up with our newbies who aren't currently in hospital, just to let 'em know what's going on."

"I think you still have bigger fish to fry, Yuffie," Riku said. "Leon—"

"I'll deal with our friends who want to know more about our marriage later, Riku," Yuffie said softly. "Right now, we should be focusing on what we need to do to kick Maleficent's butt. We can deal with life when we have peace."

Shina nodded her head. "I agree with that sentiment. We can deal with life when we have peace, though I suspect I do need to get used to the idea of being at war with shadow demons. Don't you agree, Naminé?"

"Huh?" Naminé asked, the blonde startled by the elf's sudden question. "Oh, uh…yeah. Yes, definitely, I agree."

Shina glanced at Sora, and he took the hint from those silver-grey eyes. He looked at a clock. "Right, I'm going to head off to the debrief. The rest of you can make your decisions as you feel fit. Dismissed."

-A-D-

"We lost the _Avenger_!?"

"Yes," Fleet Admiral Kago reported with resignation. "As well as the _Jericho_ , and the _Ocean_ was heavily damaged and crash landed during your battle on the ground. The _Starlight_ and _Unity_ suffered only light damage, thank the stars, but few of the ships that started the battle made it out without getting a fair share of scars for their efforts. Our fighter strength is down by eighteen percent and our bombers by almost a quarter."

"That's roughly comparable with our own losses," General Berger grimly reported. "We're still tabulating roll, just to get our exact figures, but we're estimating roughly 2,700 casualties, with more than eighty percent of them wounded and the remainder either KIA or MIA."

"As much as I don't like that number, at all, all things considered we got off easy on the ground," Sora said. He leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, the weight of the words really hitting him. "We lost the _Avenger_. We _lost_ the _**Avenger**_! I don't even want to hear the amount of crew she had, or the _Jericho_." He went silent, forcing himself to think.

Before the battle began they had nearly fourteen thousand on the ground, not counting the Samurai Nobodies Roxas (and he) had command of. They also only had eight Keyblade Wielders of the nine who were known at the time actually present for the battle, as Rei was far too young and completely untrained. Now their numbers of actively ready troops had shrunk slightly, but their Keyblade count had increased to roughly forty, given the hits the new Wielders had taken while the six Wielders of Power had been absent.

Roxas had already forged a number of Acolyte Keyblade Armour sets, enchanted with Kairi's assistance, but there were more that he needed to make to match their numbers and he did know now the enchantments needed to be placed on them; it was just a matter of time for him to have all of the armour for the new Wielders completed and for them to grow in strength and experience for the armour to evolve to its full potential like it had for all of them. They also needed to prevent the new Wielders from becoming targets like they had been during the battle they'd just experienced, and also ensure that they were effectively protected while on the field when Heartless would be swarming all around them. The acolyte armour was good, and it even self-repaired, but they could all attest to its limitations before evolving to the next stage.

That made Sora stop and think. Why even give them the lower-tier of the acolyte mail set in the first place? If they really wanted them to survive as best as possible, why not start them off with the second-tier knight form?

But beyond their new Keyblade Wielders, how were they going to be able to better prepare their troops, all of them with varied ages, backgrounds, and degrees of combat experience, to combat the Heartless, Nobodies, and others under Maleficent's command and those of her allies, to increase their survivability and potential? Some groups he didn't fear for at all. The Samurai were disciplined, generally emotionless, and superb; and of the elves of Rivendell that came with Glorfindel only six of them had been wounded or killed and those were mostly sustained from Sauron's wargs and orcs. The Ascalon Vanguard under Prince Rurik and their guilds had been fighting against the Charr for years and were experienced fighters, though their altercations with the Heartless variant of their longstanding enemies had been few. The Guardians from Destiny Islands under Garda he knew intimately well, since he'd been in Combat Mastery classes throughout his education in order to lead him down the path of a Guardian, even though that wasn't where his heart eventually settled on what he wanted to be. Once more he regretted being unable to save the ones the Death Knight Morgana, his mother Anne, had slain, but silently prayed that their souls would find their way into peaceful Elysium.

As for the newer recruits from Destiny Islands, Radiant Garden, and Twilight Town… what were they going to do besides throw them overboard and hope they learn to swim?

"The enemy ships," Melbil asked while Sora continued to think, "they were all destroyed?"

"They were," Admiral Kago assured her.

"Do we know what they represented as far as our enemy's…naval forces? I don't know if that's the term we're looking for, exactly, but it's the one I'm familiar with."

"Unfortunately, we do not have that information," Admiral Kago replied. "Our intelligence on what they may have in the Lanes Between regarding Heartless is spotty at best, given the vast amount of area to cover, but we doubt that grand fleet actions like what occurred during the battle will be the norm. Traditionally, from the reports and intelligence we've gathered from when Grand Master Sora and his friends went around saving the worlds, there were large numbers of small, weak Heartless that could easily be dispatched by a lightly armed and armoured gummi ship of the _Highwind_ 's calibre, and the majority of large enemies only began appearing when the Nobodies were in command of the Lanes Between worlds. Even so, these larger foes were able to be dispatched by Grand Master Sora in his ship, which in itself was not nearly as heavily armed or armoured as many of our larger vessels. We anticipate that any extraordinarily large Heartless such as the Mighty Prow or Vengeful Galleys that we encountered will be rare and lone encounters, and that what occurred was Maleficent's attempt to smash our fleets and ground forces to pieces before we could effectively mobilize."

"I do remember Sora telling us about this attack after he, Donald, Goofy, Aiwemon, and Stitch dealt with Gantu and Hämsterviel," Riku said. "Effectively, Maleficent had stated that this wasn't so much throwing the gauntlet at us as striking with the hammer. We've withstood and smashed that hammer. We now have the advantage. If anything, Maleficent will now hole up and consolidate her force. She'll do what she can to protect herself while seeking out the power of the Cornerstones and expanding her power base. This wasn't a test, like some of the earlier skirmishes and battles were. This was meant to smash us, and until we come to get her, I doubt she'll emerge from whatever hole she's hiding herself in. She's not the kind of person to take to the field herself unless she's forced to.

"I also don't think we'll be having full scale battles like these very often," Riku continued. "Due to the vastness of the area we'll need to cover, I imagine that our options would be closer to sending in individual companies with some support personnel to various worlds to thwart her attempted advances and help defend the locals from the Heartless. I can't see us engaging in too many large-scale engagements like the one we just had. If we do need to call in just about everybody including the kitchen sink, it'll be because we're making a strategic push for certain worlds or her final fortress."

"That's a reasonable assessment," General Berger affirmed with a nod of his head. "This is not traditional warfare on a single world. From our records, even in the past Keyblade War, large battles weren't the common occurrence and many fights were conducted in skirmishes between numbers ranging in less than a couple thousand on either side. Maleficent may have more numbers on her side due to the Heartless, but numbers alone do not win a battle."

"No, but they sure help a lot," Prince Alexander of Destiny Islands stated. "Large numbers of inferior troops fighting against small numbers of superior troops will eventually wear out and bring down their enemy. Morale and fatigue do not seem to be issues that the Heartless have to face, but we do. Those who are demoralized may run or give up. Those who are tired will succumb eventually, be it through death by a thousand cuts or through weariness making them unable to block or avoid that next attack. Her numbers may still overwhelm us."

"So then we just need to ensure that her numbers don't," Jenny said firmly. "I'm new to your worlds," stated the wizard girl, "but I know my magic and I know my friends. We won't be giving in to fear, and we'll continue to fight until we're the last ones standing. The only thing we need to do is make her numbers count for nothing, either by striking the head or attaining unmatched power."

"The Cornerstones." King Mickey said solemnly. "We've already learned that she's after the Cornerstones. The problem is that besides the Cornerstone of Light, which protects Disney Castle, we don't know what or where the other five are."

"But the good news is this: Maleficent doesn't know what or where they are either." Sora said, re-joining the conversation. "I know that you all are still getting used to the idea that we aged three years on you almost instantly, but we didn't spend that time doing nothing."

"We understand that, Sora," Colonel Mustang said. "And trust me, I know Edward and Alphonse Elric; I recognize that age alone does not determine capability. I imagine you were coming up with a plan while you were sitting there brooding."

Sora chuckled. "I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it a 'plan', but I do have an idea for a direction for us to take. For starters, I don't want any Keyblade Wielder to be going solo to any world we send them to. If a Keyblade is going someplace, we should always send at least two. Secondly, I don't think they should be pulled out of their existing units if at all possible. Friendship and camaraderie will give their hearts strength and help them grow, and it can help their units gain a feeling of distinction for the important role they will play. Third, I don't need to remind you all but I will anyway that Kairi and I have a previous obligation to go to the world of Middle-earth and protect the Ring-Bearer from Heartless on his quest, especially since, if I recall correctly, Star Command's Rangers and the Samurai Nobodies have tracked Maleficent to that world. We will be unavailable, but Riku and Naminé are to act in my stead and all of the Fearless Wolves that came with us are strong, and highly capable. Most importantly, though, we need to get our hands on the other Cornerstones before Maleficent.

"Lastly, I feel the majority of our ground troops should be held in reserve while the units we send out to scout different worlds be deployed. If they determine that they need backup, they make the call for what they need and we bring the hammer down where and when they call it in."

"That mostly agrees with what Master Riku recommended," General Berger commented. "In principle, I agree with you, Grand Master Sora. Sending out smaller scouting parties to assess the risks associated with the different worlds we're going to before making the call to bring in the big guns makes sound strategic sense."

"Now we just need to organize the deployments," General Solomon remarked. "Ladies and gentlemen, we'd better get started."

-A-D-

"So what's this all about?" Gimli asked the following morning from outside the smithy, where he was standing and amicably chatting with a working Roxas and idle Melbil, while the blond smith regularly popped his head up through the window to make sure that his daughter was doing fine playing in the snow. Throughout the morning there had so far been a steady stream of people heading towards the castle, most of them younger women, and all with some form of application or resume in hand.

"Sora put out an ad requesting an administrative assistant," Roxas said as he quickly worked at fashioning the chain links he'd made into a coif for one of their new Wielders, while he waited for the metal he'd poured into a breastplate mould to cool and settle. He'd started with fashioning mail sets for the newbies, then Sora, the overlord, told him to go straight to plate, regardless of the amount of extra work it meant for him. He understood _why_ , but it was still a pain, "and it looks like all of these people are trying to apply for the position." He gestured towards a pair who had been stopped by one of the reporters that had staked out the castle, conducting interviews. He was one of the few who hadn't been chased away by a few choice off-hand remarks and gestures made by Sylla and Jastra the day before about what they liked to do to nosy people. Sylla, notably, had been wandering in her full armour, complete with her spiked helmet, and had done a stirring representation of thrashing about while hugging a creature, an act that (had she been holding onto a creature at the time) would leave the animal covered in bleeding gashes and punctures.

There had been a marked decrease in the number of reporters directly trying to access the Fearless Wolves for questions since then.

Gimli stroked his beard while nodding his head. "It's strange," he declared. "To think that I'd only met him and Kairi a few short months ago, and now they've gone and aged three years on me."

"Oh, I doubt that those three years are anything for one such as ye to worry about," Melbil said. "They may not be wee babes like this adorable scamp, but they're still young 'uns." She knelt down to peer at Iroviel, all wrapped up in warm furs and soft wool to protect her from the cold. "What are ye doing there, Iroviel?"

"Snow Asha!" Iroviel giggled, lying on her back and waving her arms up and down and her legs from side to side.

"A snow Asha?" Melbil asked, feigning surprise. "Yer right, it _does_ look like Asha, don't it? Can I make one too?" The tyke nodded and giggled, and Melbil launched herself backwards into the snow and started making her own, much more "proper" snow angel.

Gimli glanced back at Roxas, who was chuckling at his daughter's play, and quietly asked him a question when he was sure that Melbil wasn't paying attention. "Are you sure that she's a dwarf?"

Roxas blinked at him in confusion. "That's Princess Melbil of the dwarf city of Rigothiton, built into the stone slopes of an active volcano; and the place where I really learned what it was to be a smith. She's a dwarf alright, and her sister, her father, and whole family."

"But where's her…" Gimli asked before stopping, seeming to be at a loss for a moment as he struggled with the words. Roxas looked at him inquiringly and Gimli managed to spit the word out in a hoarse whisper, " _beard_?"

"Her _what_?" Roxas asked, his own hand unconsciously moving north to stroke the hairs of his blond goatee. "I've never seen her with one, or any dwarf woman, for that matter."

"That's not right," Gimli muttered, shaking his head and looking towards where she and Iroviel were playing, the half-elf child still making her attempt at snow angels and Melbil moving on to assembling walls for a snow fort. "That's not natural. At first I thought that maybe there'd been an accident of some kind, but to hear that she's _never_ had one before, nor any o' her kin. That's strange alright. Just like you, actually."

"Hm?"

"You married an elf," Gimli said. "An _elf_!"

"Yeah…" Roxas sighed, now thinking of his wife. "Isn't she great?"

"And a short one at that!" Gimli added, not noticing Roxas' words. "What kind of madness possessed you to marry an elf?"

"Whoa now," Roxas said. "That's my wife you're talking about, remember. A woman I love and cherish and am trying to raise a family with in the midst of all… _this_." He gestured at his work and the outside where the applicants were still streaming in, most of them probably just trying to rub shoulders with his brother and net some claim to fame, or attempt at seduction despite the show he and Kairi gave when they'd first arrived in Radiant Garden together.

"I heard she's a sorceress," Gimli said, still distrusting. "Are you sure she didn't put you under a spell?"

"Now that's enough," Melbil said, standing up and giving Gimli a hard look. "I think ye are being unreasonably hard on Shina just because of what she is. She may be an elf and I know we don't always see eye-to-eye on certain things on principle, but I trust her wit' me life, and the fact that she's willing to trust me, to trust any of us Wolves, with her daughter when she an' Roxas aren't around speaks more than enough as to how much she trusts and respects us."

"You'll think that," Gimli said, "and then just when you feel you need her most, she'll turn on you, jus' because you're a dwarf." He spat on the ground. "Never trust an elf," he grumbled, stomping away.

"Well that was rather unpleasant," Melbil told Roxas, frowning at Gimli's back as he walked away. "I know we have our differences an' all, and there are certainly people in my kingdom who would think that, but…"

"Ne'er twust elf," Iroviel parroted, and she pitifully spat on the ground.

"Iroviel!" Roxas gasped. "No! I don't want you to say that ever again! Mommy would be sad if she heard you say that, understand?"

"Okay…" the toddler answered, looking downcast and shuffling her feet for a few seconds before kicking the snow and giggling, the previous thought forgotten.

"Different world, different dwarves, different elves," Roxas said, sighing. "He called Shina short, but of the elves of Olomund, she's just above average in height. If you think about the other elves we were with like Glorfindel, yeah, Shina's short."

"But didn't those elves come to help you?" Melbil asked.

"They came because Sora, a _human_ , asked," Roxas said. "And he asked Elrond Half-Elven of Rivendell, an elf of great age and wisdom whom I'm told is himself of exceedingly rare mixed parentage between humans and elves in Middle-earth. I think there's only been…two? cases of humans and elves hooking up in their entire history, I think, if I can believe what I've heard."

"Only two!?" Melbil asked. Roxas held up his hands in a form of non-committal defence. "That's ridiculous! There're more elf and dwarf marriages in our own world than that, and that in itself is an achievement! Armok's beard, there're _five_ between Crafthall and the Dreamcity alone last I checked! Where did you hear that?"

"Glorfindel. He's the elf who came from Middle-earth leading their warriors. He's lived for a few thousand years and asked me about it two nights ago during the party. I'd say that he's pretty credible since he's from Rivendell and he's a high ranking lord amongst them."

"Hm… wait, a few _thousand_ years?"

"Apparently Middle-earth elves are immortal barring violent death, sickness, or poison," Roxas answered with a shrug. "Age won't kill them; age won't even show on them."

"Heh, I wonder if we should tell Jastra not to get attached to one of them if she meets more than just those of Glorfindel's company," Melbil chuckled. "It's not often that ye get to tell an elf that someone will outlive her. Usually it's the other way around, except in your case."

"Just because I was told by some god that being a Keyblade Wielder gave me an enhanced lifespan does not mean I have any idea how much more time that actually gives me," Roxas replied with a smile. "I could kick the bucket in an attack tomorrow for all we know."

"I want pway," Iroviel said suddenly, waddling over to Melbil and her snow fort that was slowly taking shape. "I want pway." She walked right into one of the low ramparts before falling over, breaking that section of the line.

"Well, _that_ wall wasn't structurally sound," Roxas observed.

"'twas meant to be temporary. Would ye like to help me build a snow fort, Iroviel?"

"Yesh!"

-A-D-

Lotte found Sora in a study later that evening with Kairi, Naminé, Rose, Jared, and a young woman with brown hair and green eyes she'd seen but never properly met before, all of them poring over pages and files on two separate desks. "So what's going on in here?" she asked.

"That terrible thing called paperwork," Sora replied, barely glancing up from the page he was looking at to see the former tavern girl-turned-adventurer-turned-druid. "How does Roxas enjoy bureaucratic shit like this anyway?"

"He's the one who convinced us to start our own bank after we started making money in the silk trade, remember?" Naminé reminded him.

"Yeah, but this is _Roxas_ , remember?" Sora said. "Roxas: the ice cream loving goofball."

"You forget how serious and responsible he can be," said the unknown brunette. "I suspect becoming a father may have smartened him up. I'm sorry, did you say he convinced you all to start a bank?"

"Eeyup," Kairi replied. She frowned at the page in front of her before crumpling it into a ball and chucking it in a bin. "No. Not you."

"A _bank_?"

"Yes, Olette," Sora answered dryly, "a bank. There weren't any banks in Olomund when we arrived, so we ended up setting up the first one."

"And made a _pile_ of gold doing so," Rose added.

Lotte went to the bin Kairi had just tossed the paper into and pulled it out. There were numerous other pieces of paper in the bin in varying states of crumpledness. She started to read the one she'd picked up as the young woman — Olette, apparently — continued to ask about their business ventures back in Lotte's home world.

"This looks like someone listing off their traits," Lotte muttered aloud. "Work experience? I have three months' experience waiting tables in a thriving restaurant environment...fast and accurate note taker...good with hands?" She looked up. "What has _that_ got to do with anything about being your hired servant?"

"That's why I chucked it out," Kairi answered. "Are you really sure you are able to be here, Olette?"

"I've got some free time," she answered, "so it's okay. Plus, I'm a Keyblade Wielder now, so aren't you all technically my bosses?"

"But you're still in Easy Company, so Major Akkan is still your CO as part of the military,"

"Yes," Olette replied, ceasing her perusing of documents, "but aren't you pulling all of us military people out of our companies and forming our own commando unit?"

"After this war's done, yes," Sora said, "but we essentially decided that it wouldn't be fair to you all to pull you out of the groups that you're in now just because you all suddenly were chosen by Keyblades. We'll be giving you some spiffy new Keyblade Armour and all that Roxas is making, and Roxas and the others will be on hand to help train you guys as well in between missions, but we're not pulling you out and making a new organization of Keyblade Wielders until we've dealt with Maleficent."

"That's good to know, then," Olette replied.

Lotte picked up another page. "What's this one? Rebecca Daniels, super awesome, no work experience, above average marks in something called her English class, totally athletic…"

"Not relevant; pass," Sora said. "Get rid of it."

"Here's one," Jared said. He blushed. "Uh…" the young knight turned what he was looking at around, showing them all a résumé that had a photo attached with a paper clip. It was of a young woman with burnt umber skin tones and long, voluminous black hair in a risqué outfit and a provocative pose.

"She's not the only one who included a picture," Rose said, frowning and dropping a file including a photo of a blonde bombshell in a bikini on his desk. She then dropped another one with an attractive shirtless brown-skinned man looking back over his shoulder and flexing his biceps.

"What does she think I'm hiring for?" Sora asked, bewildered. "What do _any_ of these people think I'm hiring for!? I want someone to help manage a schedule and perform routine tasks for when I'm not out saving the worlds, not a piece of eye candy."

"Well, you know that any of us could do that," Rose replied. "Me, Beth, Alisha, Louise…it's what you hired and had us trained for in the first place after you took us in after the dragon."

"You all are going to have your hands full assisting Roxas in managing our group finances, our stores, our group equipment, and anything else the Wolves need your help with, especially when liaising with our new Keyblade Wielders like Olette here, or helping the parents out with Iroviel," Sora said dismissively. "Sorry, Rose, but even though I know you'd do a good job there's just no space in your job description for 'Sora's personal assistant'. Besides, we didn't bring you and the others along just to have one of you trudge through Middle-earth with Kairi and me when we head off with Frodo and the Ring."

"Fun though an adventure to bring a ring to a volcano to destroy it would be," Kairi added. She then groaned. "It's going to take us forever to get through these and find somebody actually _suitable_ for the job! We don't have time; we need to prepare for our town hall tomorrow."

"I need a break!" Sora said, deliberately moving away from the papers and towards the door. "I _need_ a break. I can't look at any more résumés until I've cleared my head."

"I think I need a break too," Kairi said a minute later after putting one of the rare applications into the "maybe" pile. "Do you think you all can keep going?"

"Sure," Lotte said. "Go on and rest your eyes from these."

"Yeah, we've got this, Kairi," Olette added. The redhead nodded and then left.

"Jared, Rose," Lotte began with a grin. "How many stags says that those two are going to try again?"

"If you're offering free money I'll take everything you have, Lotte," Jared chuckled. "That's a foregone conclusion."

"Ah, but what about betting that they succeed?" Rose asked with a bit of a giggle. "Given their track record, they're at less than half a percentage point."

Jared stopped and appeared to think about it. "The odds are not in my favour, but in this case I just need a little and the payout is huge. Hmm…" he looked at the other two Wolves in the room. "Do you have the money to pay up if I win at 200:1 odds?"

"Actually it's closer to 250:1."

"I feel so sorry for them. Five stags."

"Done."

"I'm sorry," Olette interjected, "but what are you talking about?"

The other three grinned. "Whether or not those two will be able to officially become lovers."

Olette looked at the three of them, processing, and an instant later her face screwed up in disapproval. "You guys are terri… wait. Did you say the odds are two hundred-fifty to one? As in they've _tried_ that many times and haven't succeeded?" She glanced at the door. "Gods, I can't even imagine how frustrated that must make them feel."

-A-D-

As it turned out, _very_.

"And who are you?" Kairi asked, thoroughly peeved, as another interruption prevented her and her chosen life partner from engaging in the emotionally fulfilling bonding ritual known as mating, yet again.

"My name is not important, Your Highness," said the man with a small bow to her and Sora, the pair currently located in what was essentially a broom cupboard, but theoretically was about three times as big as what a standard broom cupboard was. Neither of them was in any state of indecency, having only just begun with a series of intimate kisses, but the Princess and her beau were nevertheless annoyed that another strange person had prevented them from proceeding further in their never-ending quest to be intimate with one another. The unknown man pulled a manila folder from a non-descript burgundy briefcase and presented it to them. "If it should please you, Highnesses, have a look."

Glancing at Kairi, Sora took the folder from the man's hands and opened it. Inside were a number of documents, the topmost document reading, " **SUMMARY OF QUESTIONS FOR TOWN HALL, DEC. 10** ".

"I have acquired a list of questions that the invited news media will be asking you and your associates at your interview session tomorrow," stated the man. "In addition, I have also cleared your schedule, Prince Sora, for the 11th and the remainder of the week and weekend in order to allow you to visit your mechanic and see to your arm's maintenance, though given the previous speed in which your mechanic has worked, I do not believe it will take that long. Princess Kairi, following the interview session tomorrow, you are scheduled to appear before the Senate at 15:30 hours to officially announce your abdication and endorse Princess Naminé as the heir apparent to the throne of Radiant Garden, followed by a two hour visit to the critical care wing of the Shinra General Hospital during which you may assist with any medical knowledge or magic you have acquired in your time away. Following that, there is time available throughout the week for you to write out or personally give your condolences to the families of the new Keyblade Wielders whose lives were lost in the recent battle. I heard one of your close friends was one of them. I imagine you'd want to give the news to her family in person."

"And what's this?" Sora asked, looking at the rest of the documents in the folder. "This one looks like…"

"That page in particular is an analysis of our United Forces' current projected strength and readiness," the man stated. "Contrary to what you may have heard in your briefing yesterday, the figures on the page are the _real_ numbers for how long repairs to the fleet will take, full casualty reports and preparedness statistics, as well as our stores. Maleficent must be pleased that she's forced us to fight this campaign in the winter."

"Why did you do all this?" Kairi asked, looking up at him in amazement.

The man gave her a hard stare. "I have a particular set of skills which Maleficent wanted. However, I have no intention of serving her. I'm done doing things for the betterment of evil individuals. I saw that Sora put out an advertisement for a personal assistant. Consider this my application."

"You're hired," Sora declared instantly.

Kairi and the man both looked at him. "Really?" the man asked.

"Really," Sora answered.

"Just like that?" Kairi asked.

"Just like that," Sora nodded. "Would you like to follow me to an office so we can negotiate a salary?"

"Very well," the man stated. "However, why did you agree so readily?"

"Are you kidding?" Sora asked. "I put out the ad this morning and you pop in out of nowhere with everything I need done without me even asking. Plus, you want to go against Maleficent, so any help we can get to make our lives easier I'll take. Besides," Sora's tone and facial expression shifted from a somewhat jovial one into one much more serious. "You somehow know things; _private_ things. You know details and facts that you shouldn't, so I'd like to keep an eye on you."

The man nodded his head. "I understand. Were I in your position, I doubt that I would let someone of my calibre be out of sight either."

Nodding, Kairi dropped her eyes to the folder again when the corner of a file caught her eye. It looked different from the rest, more like the border of a photograph. She pulled it out and her eyes went wide.

"How did you get this?" she asked quietly, not sure how she should feel, but anger was definitely involved, along with a smattering of fear. "How did you get _this_!?" she demanded, revealing the photo. It was of her, not as she was before but as she was now, with her glorified "automail" leg gilded in gold leaf around the top of the thigh and ankle, with a golden kneecap in the shape of a wolf's head with sapphire eyes and silver dragons along the left and right sides. The reason her whole leg was visible was because she was wearing nothing but a striped pink and white bikini, apparently in her room and checking to make sure her clothes still fit. The swimwear, however, was a bit on the small side, revealing more skin than she would have liked.

"When were you doing that?" Sora inquired, his eyes glued to the photo.

"Yesterday," Kairi answered flippantly. "But that doesn't change that I want to know _how_ and _why_ he has a picture of me in a bikini!"

"It is for you to autograph to provide to the private when he receives his citation for the capture of the Nobody Xokor," the man replied with swiftness and sureness.

"Are you sure it's not for _you_?" Kairi grilled him.

"I provided you the photograph."

"You don't have copies kept for 'personal' use?"

"I'm a eunuch, Your Highness."

The bluntness of the reply doused the princess' rising anger as swiftly as taking the polar bear challenge induces shivers. "Oh…" she answered lamely, not sure of what to make of that statement.

"Knowing this, are you now assured that I do not have any copies retained for 'personal' usage?"

"Um, yes, I suppose I am," Kairi replied. She coughed, correcting herself as Sora finally left the "broom cupboard", with her close behind. "Well, aren't you lucky that you got somebody fully competent giving an application like this and not another underwear model?"

"Who's to say that underwear models can't be intelligent and competent assistants?"

"I'm not saying that they can't, I just don't want you to have one who sends headshots or gravure photos of themselves in their applications as your assistant. It's very unprofessional. Honestly, how many pretty girls do you need surrounding you?"

"ALL the pretty girls," Sora joked. He held up the photo that was still in his hand. "However, the girl in this one is the only one I really want."

"Flatterer. I've gained weight."

" _Healthy_ weight; it makes your curves sexier. I want a copy of this to keep."

"Perv."

"Said the pot to the kettle. You love me anyway."

-A-D-

 _A little on the late side of July, but I still got it out this month! Guess I need to really work at it to get the next chapter done for the end of August._

 _As always, all thoughts, comments, concerns, and suggestions are appreciated. I take all feedback to heart._


	6. Radiant Garden VI

_Here we go, another chapter and in time for Christmas!_

…

 _I apologize for taking so long to get this one ready. Extra thanks to **fuzzynavaljewelry** and **Shadow Horizons** for their assistance with this._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, Celtic Woman, or anything else that shows up in this work of fiction that somebody else created first._

-A-D-

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter Six: Radiant Garden VI

 _0740hrs, Wednesday, December 10, 1671, Radiant Garden Reckoning  
_ _Talerith Castle, Radiant Garden_

"Okay, is everybody ready?" Sora asked in the morning, striding in to where the Fearless Wolves were eating their breakfast.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Riku answered. "We've gone over some of the questions they'll be asking us, but we've got no idea what the public has in store for us."

"I'm sure that the reporters wouldn't like it that we've gotten our hands on a list of the questions they're going to be asking us," Sora replied.

"Then we be real quiet about that," Roxas said. He then snorted a laugh and put his head down as he watched his daughter spoon half the amount of food she was trying to get to her mouth into it, the rest of it falling down her front.

"And who knows? Some of them might pull out some surprising ones fer us," Melbil added.

"Or just some plain hard ones," Jenny said nervously. "What if they ask me, specifically, questions? I don't know these people. I don't know what they're going to ask me."

"If you're really uncomfortable with a question, Jenny, I don't think anyone's expecting you to answer it," Kairi said. "The only ones who won't be able to get out of any serious, uncomfortable, political questions would probably be me, Sora, Riku, Naminé, and maybe Roxas and Yuffie. You all would probably have a free pass if you're uncomfortable taking questions."

"Bring on their questions," Asha declared. "I am a Deva. The mere enquiries of mortals do not frighten me!"

"Famous last words," Jastra muttered with a smile at the angel. "I'll hold you to that proclamation when you're huddled on the floor with your head in your hands in terror."

"It cannot be that bad."

"You really don't know just how curious and uncensored commoners can be when asking questions of their lords, do you?" Melbil asked. "Nothing's off-limits with them. Are ye nervous, Sora?"

Sora sat down to eat his share of the morning meal. "Yeah, I'm nervous. I'll probably be even more nervous when we start but nothing can change that. We all just have to be on our best behaviour and answer as truthfully and honestly as we can. We'll be in the hot seat pretty soon."

His words couldn't have been more accurate.

-A-D-

The venue chosen for the town hall was a community conference centre in the downtown market district of Radiant Garden. Escorted by military members of the royal guard and ushered in through the back, the Fearless Wolves were kept out of sight and away from reporters until they were to first enter the hall in which the event was taking place. Flashing lights from cameras greeted them as they strode out from behind a curtain at the calling of the MC chairing the session—a man with a great grey walrus moustache by the name of Hank Fletcher—along with numerous cheers and whistles from supporters. Twenty-four hundred people were seated in the room, along four separate blocks of six hundred each with a microphone set up between each aisle. Reporters and other members of the press were situated in a separate seating area ahead of the general public with their own microphone they had dedicated to them.

"Lots of people here, huh?" Jastra asked quietly as they were led to the long table at the front of the hall where they were to be seated "It makes me feel like I'm somebody important." Empty glasses were in front of each seat, jugs filled with water were between every two, as well as five bowls of assorted mints and candies spread out along the table.

"I'm certainly glad we agreed to wear our best clothes," Lotte said, smiling at all the attention and waving politely.

"And I'm glad we left Iroviel at the castle," Shina added. "I do hope she's being a good girl while we're away."

"She's normally a good girl," Roxas said.

"She's been uncommonly good since we arrived here," Shina replied in a hushed voice. "I've been expecting a tantrum or three, but she hasn't had a single one yet. I'm worried."

"With all of us here, I'm pretty sure she's throwing a fit and has the whole castle under her thumb," Kairi replied confidently, grinning while mentally apologizing to Helia and Kensworth for dumping her niece on them.

The Fearless Wolves all sat down at the table in their assigned seats after four of them set down the log they'd been carrying to lean upright against a wall, some of them picking up the folded pieces of paper that had their names printed on them and giving them somewhat smug looks that read, "Oh, this is neat!" to anyone who was watching intently. The halflings and Melbil had even been provided with chairs with longer legs for them to sit on, so that they could be seen more clearly.

"First of all, I would like to thank you all for coming today," Hank spoke, looking down from where he stood at the podium towards the table, "and I would like to thank you, Princess Kairi, for organizing this session, the Shinra Conference Centre for this lovely hall that we're in today, and all of you for joining us this morning for this candid, and hopefully informative, interview session that we're going to have. Before we begin with the questions I believe you, no doubt, are burning to ask, I would like to ask our panellists here to just briefly go down the table and introduce themselves."

Sora seemed surprised when Hank looked to him. "Oh, are we doing that? Okay." He leaned forward towards the microphone in front of him. "Hello, I'm…" Sora stopped, not hearing his own voice being amplified throughout the room. He tapped the microphone in its stand, hearing dead noise from it.

"Are they all off or just, well, looks like it's just Sora's, maybe," Naminé said, speaking up and suddenly hearing her own voice being projected across the hall.

"Could we get Master Sora's microphone turned on?" Hank asked, looking towards where the techs were.

"It should be on," Sora muttered, fiddling with the button on the mic. "It says it is. Great job, Kairi."

"It's not my fault that it's not working," she said.

"Your event, your problem," Sora cheekily accused her while still examining the mic, to which Kairi rolled her eyes. "Check, check…" he saw Hank give him a thumbs-up. "Hellooo…" he said, slowly, his voice now being projected across the hall, and the public began clapping and cheering now that technology was working again. Sora laughed. "Take two! Alright, uh, hi everyone! So my name is Sora—"

"I LOVE YOU SORA!"

"I love you, too," Sora replied. "Uh, yeah, so my name is Sora, son of Mac and Anne, born and raised in Felra on Destiny Islands and I am the Grandmaster of the Keyblade, and Chosen Master of the Kingdom Key. I'm the Crown Star Wielder of Twilight of the Legendary Wielders of Power, and uh…" Sora started to tick off his fingers as he continued, "the Digidestined of Valour, Prince of Pride Rock, and leader of the Fearless Wolves adventuring company, some of the members of which are up here with me if I remember correctly, just having a Keyblade also grants me a lordship here as well. Have I forgotten anything?" he asked Kairi with a cheeky grin. She tilted her head to the side and gave him a telling look with her eyebrows slightly raised. "I'm sorry," Sora apologized to the crowd. "I'm not normally this cocky." There was a tap on his shoulder and he felt a prod of annoyance from the being behind him. He grinned. "And this, here, is my familiar, Wispy," Sora introduced as the girlish-looking tiny air elemental flew up into the air above him, circling around and around before 'standing' upright and waving to the crowd. Sora turned to look at his other shoulder. "Alright Aiwë, your turn."

Aiwemon hopped down from his perch on his partner's shoulder and placed a wing over his beak, covering it while he cleared his throat. "Hello everyone. My name is Aiwemon. I'm a rookie level digimon and Sora is my digidestined partner. Um, I really like pasta dishes, and saving the world beating bad guys." He puffed out his little chest proudly at that statement.

Kairi drew a little bit of attention next as she pulled the microphone she and Sora were sharing towards her, Aiwemon fluttering out of the way and back onto Sora's shoulder. "In case nobody in the room knows who I am," Kairi started with a humoured laugh to herself that they were doing introductions, "my name is Kairi Talerith, Princess Royal of Radiant Gard—"

She stopped, as the public, which had been more or less quiet despite the scattered cheers and claps for Sora apart from the loud profession of love, suddenly erupted in in a cacophony of applause, whistles, and cheers to rival a sports game. There were several loud shouts of "Dragon Knight" that almost turned into a chant before Kairi stood up andwaved her arms in a calming gesture as a passive expression of telling the crowd to settle down. She couldn't stop smiling throughout the experience, but the public did calm down, so down Kairi sat and took up the microphone again. "Wow, well thank you all for the enthusiasm, but please be respectful everyone. We don't want to drag out just these introductions for longer than they need to be. Anyway, uh, yes! So again I am Kairi Talerith, Princess Royal of Radiant Garden. I was here in Radiant Garden until I was five and got whisked away to Destiny Islands after my parents and brother were assassinated, where I lived and grew up for most of the rest of my life with my adoptive parents Seymour and Janet with no real memory of here. I am also a Keyblade Wielder, the Crown Star Wielder of Light of the Legendary Wielders of Power to be exact. I was knighted by my sister Naminé, actually, during the Zeus Cup and am known as the 'Dragon Knight,' which you all are very much aware of. I am the Digidestined of Virtue, a trained Paladin of Athena, and also a member of the Fearless Wolves adventuring company that we created. This little guy," she indicated Plato, "he is my familiar, Plato, and I'll let my partner introduce herself."

Menelmon, in contrast to Aiwemon, simply leaned down from Kairi's shoulder, placing her round white beak just in front of the microphone. "Hello. I'm Menelmon, and like Aiwemon I'm a digimon and Kairi is my partner. I'll be right by her side until the worlds have been saved, and I'll always protect her, even when I'm starving..." she held her tummy and made a pitying look.

"Oh Menel," Kairi giggled softly. She grabbed the nearest bowl of candies and placed it between her and Sora, and without further ado, both bird digimon started to go at them.

"I suppose I'm next," Naminé said, leaning forward towards her own microphone. "So I am Kairi's sister, Naminé Talerith, Princess and knight of Radiant Garden." After Kairi's urging, the crowd's reaction to her intro was polite applause. "I can't recall if anyone chose to give me a name like Kairi being called the Dragon Knight since I was knighted by Marquis Ramius, but I am a Keyblade Wielder as well and the Shield Star Wielder of the Moon of the Legendary Wielders of Power. I am _not_ a digidestined like those two, but I do have a familiar. This is Erry, and for those of you who cannot see him, he is a snake and is wrapped around my shoulders and the back of my neck, and this lovely young woman behind me is my handmaiden, Agatha Quin." Agatha bowed, but remained standing with her hands folded neatly in front of her. Naminé paused for a bit, thinking if she forgot anything, and then her expression brightened with remembrance. "Oh, right! And I'm also an Archmage and a Fearless Wolf as well." She turned her head to the person sitting beside her, smiling again at the thought of her 'promotion'.

"I'm Roxas," the blond declared into his and Naminé's shared microphone. "I'm Sora's brother, and also a Keyblade Wielder. I'm the Shield Star Wielder of Dusk and leader of the Samurai Nobodies. I used to be a Nobody and member of Organization XIII, but I left them to find answers about myself, which has eventually led me to here. I'm also a knight of Disney Castle, knighted by King Mickey as Sir Roxas Dual Blade after the two Keyblades that I use. I too am a Fearless Wolf." Having noted that none of those preceding him had made any mention of their romantic relationships, Roxas also stayed mum on the subject.

"Hi everyone! I imagine some of you may know about me, but I am the Great Ninja Lady Yuffie Kisaragi!" Yuffie declared to some applause. "I am a member of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, ninja extraordinaire, born and raised here in Radiant Garden and was in Traverse Town during the period of time when Heartless showed up and everything _sucked_. I am also a Keyblade Wielder, the Rose Star Wielder of Night of the Legendary Wielders of Power, which is fitting, you know, because I'm such a legendary ninja. Because I'm a Radiant Garden citizen with a Keyblade, I have the noble rank of Marquess and a seat in the Senate. In addition to all of that I'm also a founding member of the Fearless Wolves adventuring company." She looked at he who sat next to her and playfully elbowed him in the ribs. "Go on. Go oooon. C'mon, you can do it."

"Alright, fine, fine, I'll say it," Riku chuckled. "So, allow me to introduce myself, everyone. My name is Riku Kisaragi." He paused, smiling at the gasps and then sudden cheers that occurred as those words sank into the crowd's collective consciousness. He bowed his head, nodding slightly at the applause. "Yes, Yuffie and I got married in the time that we were away so sorry, ladies, but I am off the market. Besides that, a little about myself. I'm a born and raised Islander, and also a Keyblade Wielder, the Rose Star Wielder of the Dawn of the Legendary Wielders of Power, and a founding member of the Fearless Wolves. But I'm not a knight, I'm not a paladin, I'm not a prince, I'm not an awesome ninja or an archmage or a digidestined; I'm just plain Riku, and I'm happy this way."

"Plain Riku my ass," Yuffie giggled under her breath, but the microphone picked it up anyway. "You're my hubby; that makes you anything _but_ plain."

Melbil cleared her throat, the dwarf princess wearing a very fine tunic of red and brown along with a circlet of gold upon her brow. She had drawn her long dark red hair into a single tail ending in a bun, corralled and contained by bands of gold and emerald. She pulled the microphone that sat between herself and Shina towards herself and looked at it curiously before giving a cautious opening statement. "Hello? Oh! So this thing really does make me voice a lot louder. Alright then. Well, erm," she spoke more clearly now, cutting out her native accent with her brown eyes sparkling with delight at this otherworldly marvel."My name is Melbil Zeleroltar, my surnaming meaning 'Primegild' in your tongue. My great-grandfather is Eshtan Zeleroltar, King of the Dwarf Realm Udil Zanos in the wondrous city of Rigothiton! I was trained as a soldier back home while also being brought up as a lady of court, but I left my city to join Sora's little band of adventurers just as it was being formed in order to fight evil and see the world, and I'm certainly seeing the world now that I'm also a Keyblade Wielder." She finished with a chuckle before passing the microphone to the elf on her left.

All eyes now turned to Shina Starbrow, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful creatures in the room, resplendently dressed in a mantle of silver and purple, with golden beads and tiny precious gems woven into her long braids of silver hair that fell forward onto her left shoulder. Her face was young, jovial, and full of life and excitement; this whole event happening around her seemingly so new that she was already having great fun with it, and she hadn't even said anything yet!

"Well then, I suppose it is time for me to introduce myself isn't it?" Shina asked rhetorically of the audience, many of whom seemed to be holding their breaths and hanging on to her every word; to learn more about this drop-dead gorgeous woman who had appeared suddenly in the company of Sora and his friends. "My name is Shina Starbrow, and I am an elf of the Elven Empire of Nalthallas. I am the former fourth Imperial Princess of Nalthallas. The story for how I am a former Imperial Princess and how I became a Fearless Wolf are intrinsically tied together. Despite being disowned and removed from the line of succession I am happy, and happily married, and am experiencing all the joys and pains of having a child together with my husband, who also happens to be seated at this table. I am also a sorceress, for those of you who wish to know. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask when we get to the questions and I shall answer them as best I can."

Murmurs whispered through the crowd at the elf's words. She was married? Furthermore, her husband was seated with them at the table? Who could it be? Riku had just stated that he and Yuffie were married, so clearly it wasn't him. Could her husband be one of those other two male figures at the table they had yet to be introduced to or could it…could it possibly be!?

Did they have a _scandal_ on their hands!?

The next down the line coughed into the microphone to attract attention to her. Jenny Clover readjusted her horn-rimmed glasses and the wide-brimmed pointy blue hat she was wearing on her head. "Good morning everyone," Jenny said. "My name is Jenny Clover. I'm a wizard from the town of Lionsar in the fiefdom of Lensar in the human kingdom of Tyrden, which was the first place in our world my friends over there arrived in. Um… I'm nineteen, single, and looking forward to helping save the Realm of Light from the Heartless, both as a Fearless Wolf and as a Keyblade Wielder, and my familiar is this adorable wolverine here, Lady Puff." The creature plodded out from under the table, pushing aside the curtain with her snout, yowled in what could be assumed a greeting, and then turned around to vanish under the table again, presumably to snooze at her master's feet.

"My turn!" Jastra declared, yanking the microphone away from Jenny. "Hello Radiant Garden! I'm Jastra Mistmyrr, an elf vagrant formerly of Nalthallas and currently of wherever on the road us Fearless Wolves are." She ran a hand through her copper hair, tucking some of it back behind one of her pale, pointed ears. "A little about myself, I suppose. I'm older than all of you, except maybe _you_ ," she said, spotting and pointing at Getafix in the crowd. "You look _old_. Anyway, I'm one hundred and twenty one years young, and looking forward to hopefully another eight centuries of living, though with my lifestyle it'll probably only be one. I've also been chosen by a Keyblade and will do my best to defend your worlds while exploring them!"

"And pickpocketing people," Kal muttered.

"Shush you," Jastra commented with a giggle. "Go on, little one; it's your turn."

"Alright, fine," Kal said, inching himself forward on his chair cushions to get right up to the table and close to the microphone stand. Many people in the audience were straining to see him and the person sitting next to him, as Kal was only 3' tall and Lotte a diminutive 2' 9". "Hullo all. I'm Kal Tusslewick, a Halfling adventurer of Olomund, a member of the Fearless Wolves adventuring company, and a Keyblade Wielder, and I'm happy to be here."

"That's it?" Lotte asked him, almost incredulous at how brief he was compared to the others.

"Yup!" he said happily with a sparkle in his blue eyes, leaning back and placing his hands behind his mess of curly brown hair. "Now you." Lotte rolled her green eyes and pulled the microphone towards herself, adjusting her short-cut dirty blonde hair as she went.

"Well, my name is Lotte Harpon and I'm also a Halfling. Unlike Kal or Sylla down there I'm not much of a fighter most of the time, except for when I call on nature's powers to help me. When I do, watch out. I've known Sora since shortly after he and his friends arrived in Lensar, since I was working in the same inn he came to apprentice in. I'm also a Fearless Wolf, but I don't have a Keyblade like some of the others here, and that's my story so far, I think."

Lotte looked to her left and looked _way_ up to the face of the angel sitting next to her. Asha Solamnus laughed while picking up the microphone, bringing it up towards her smiling face. She seemed to glow with an inner light that put Kairi's to shame, her wings of white feathers clean and bright to match her perfect locks of silver hair and sunny golden eyes. She had donned a dress of ocean blue and white, adorned with thin threads of gold in delicate patterns that were difficult to discern from a distance. Lips painted pink on pure ivory skin moved as she laughed and then spoke, the deva's voice uplifting and musical like dancing bells in a high mountain breeze under the summer sun. Tall though she was, the tallest of them all at the table, she seemed even bigger due to being flanked on both sides by the much smaller halflings.

"Greetings, everyone," Asha said. "I am Asha Solamnus, and I am a deva, or angel if you wish to use that term instead. I have formed a partnership with the Fearless Wolves, and so long as our interests of smiting the wicked and bringing peace of mind to the humble and those in need of help are aligned then a Fearless Wolf I shall also remain. Unlike many at this table I do not have a Keyblade, for my own weapon is mighty enough." She did not have her flaming flambard with her, but she acted as though it was there on her back just the same. She passed the microphone to the halfling to her left, which Sylla eagerly snatched up.

She opened her mouth, shut it again and turned away from the microphone, suddenly sneezing. Blinking and sniffing, she returned to the microphone. Sylla Padfoot could be said to be the oddball of the group, as far as her hair went. Opposed to natural colours, she'd gone and dyed her short bob-cut hair a bright purple colour. "Well, I guess I'll make this quick," she declared in her bright, cheery voice. "My name is Sylla Padfoot, the mightiest halfling battlerager who ever lived! Point me at an enemy and consider 'em a goner. I also like romance novels, starlit night walks, and quiet summer afternoons reading under the trees. Okay, I'm done. Now you."

Jared Watcher reached forward to the microphone between himself and Beth. He was tall and lanky, though his martial training had left him tough, strong, and muscled. His youthful face in its early twenties underneath his well-groomed dirty blond was quite handsome, with the scar on his jaw that he'd received managing to enhance that with a rough charm. He had put aside his armour in exchange for a surcoat declaring a union of his own heraldry as a knight and the standard of the company he was in, with the white lion of Lensar and the black Fearless Wolf circling a plum tree on a silver background. "I'm Sir Jared Watcher," he greeted the crowd. "Knight of Lensar fiefdom of the kingdom of Tyrden, and I was also chosen by a Keyblade and am a member of the Fearless Wolves. I…don't really have much else to say at the moment," he added with a laugh directed mostly towards himself, and let the first of the company's actual employees and not fighting members take the microphone.

"Hello," Beth Martin said in greeting. Her long brown hair was neatly combed and tied back in a tail behind her head, emerald eyes looking at the crowd with both excitement and trepidation. Years ago, she'd never imagined that her life would take a turn like this, and she was taking it in stride. "My name is Beth Martin and like the others at this table I am a member of the Fearless Wolves adventuring company. Unlike everyone to my right, however, I and these other lovely young ladies beside me are paid servants of the company; hired hands to do most of the daily work involved in running the place and keeping it in tip top shape." She looked to the three on her right, and both of the other primped and pampered young women smiled and leaned towards the microphone that they all shared and introduced themselves as well, though giving nothing more than their names. The four of them had been seated, almost without thinking, in order of eldest to youngest, with the twenty-two year-old Beth Martin on the crowd's left, the twenty-year-old strawberry blonde, green-eyed Rosaline Pike onthe centre-left, nineteen-year-old Louise Foster with her short black hair and big chestnut eyes sitting in the centre-right, and the youngest Alisha Gardner at only seventeen with her curly brown hair and indigo eyes behind shiny black ivory glasses.

"Thank you for those introductions," Hank Fletcher said, rising again to the podium he was at, and waited as the audience politely applauded now that everyone knew who everyone at the table was. "We're now going to open up to some questions. The format for today's proceedings is that we will be taking one question first from our panel of journalists, and then two questions from the public, and will continue on in this manner and get through as many questions as we can. So without further ado, I now invite you to come up to the microphones and I ask our press gallery to offer their first question."

Some murmuring began to go through the crowd as expected as people talked to each other and others rose to go to microphones. One of the reporters that Kairi had spoken to several days before was the first to step up to the press microphone. "Good morning," he began. "Brian Thistle, _Radiant Chronicle_. Princess Kairi, when we met the other day in front of the castle, you said that you had been gone for three years. Could you and your friends elaborate more on that?"

Kairi took the microphone that was between her and Sora, leaning forward a bit on her arms. "I did say something about talking more about that, didn't I? Well to begin with, after that portal that Xokor created sucked the six of us into it, we found ourselves in a place called Mathmagicland, where a disembodied voice belonging to the Spirit of Adventure led us to a tower filled with books on numerous subjects — mostly regarding leadership, military tactics and doctrine, case studies on famous generals and leaders, economics and the like— and several floors that contained portals to the world of Olomund. Each of these portals was considered a 'trial' by the Spirit of Adventure, and we had to clear a number of these trials before the portal at the top of the tower opened to permit us to return here to Radiant Garden. Also, to complicate things even further, we found out that while we were in Mathmagicland's tower and in Olomund we were subjected to some kind of time dilation, basically speeding up everything from our perspective such that three years elapsed in our point of view compared to two hours and roughly ten minutes in yours."

"Not to mention," Roxas spoke up, "that when we arrived in Olomund we all lost our ability to summon the Keyblade and use basically any of the magic we'd known before."

"And we got weaker," Yuffie added. "Can't forget that. As soon as we dropped in, _bam_! Enhanced strength granted just by being a Keyblade Wielder and unlocking the power of our hearts…" she snapped her fingers, "gone!"

"Sora and I didn't even have shoes when we arrived in Olomund," Kairi reminisced with a bit of a laugh. "So essentially, we would spend time in this world, Olomund, that our friends up here are from, and we would be doing these trials that the Spirit of Adventure sent us on. After a trial was completed we'd have a week in the Tower to rest and recuperate while also taking advantage of the library, during which we found out that time was frozen in place in Olomund so that when we returned we'd be in the exact same place in the exact same moment as when we were pulled back to Mathmagicland. It was weird. The main problem with the trials, though, was that the Spirit of Adventure never actually told us what the objective of each trial was, so we just muddled our way through daily life as best as we could while hoping that whatever we were doing was going towards completing the trial we were on until finally we finished and were able to come back here."

"I'm pretty sure that's Xokor's power," Sora said, furrowing his brow and stroking his goatee a bit. "He likes chess and games of skill from what we know of him right now, so locking away opponents in skill-testing challenges where they can only come back if they win, else they die, seems like the kind of thing he'd have. Luxord had something similar with games of chance where he'd turn you into cards or dice while fighting him, but Xokor's method, though extreme, seems more fair."

"It _is_ fairer," Roxas added. "Luxord would cheat and stack the deck or use cooked dice."

"Is that a sufficient answer, Brian?" Kairi asked the reporter.

"I think that will do for now," Brian Thistle said. He bowed his head. "Thank you, Your Highness."

"You're welcome," Kairi said. She looked out and realized that there were people at all four of the microphones set up for the public. "Uh, I think we're going to go you and you, then the press, and then you and you," Kairi stated, pointing first to the microphone stand on her extreme right and going down the hall to her left.

"Um, hello?" the young man at the microphone said as he came up.

"Hi," Naminé, Sora, Shina, Jenny, Lotte, Asha, Rose, and Kal all said at once.

"Uh, hi," their would-be questioner replied with a nervous chuckle. "So, uh, I guess I'm going to address the elephant in the room here but, uh… what's with the tree?"

"Tree?" Riku asked. The look he gave him seemed intimidating, but confused.

"Yeah," the young man replied, gesturing. "You know the big tree, the-the-the log that you guys brought in and stood up right there. What's up with that?" While he was speaking the others at the table showed that they now understood his question.

"Sure, I'll take that," Jastra said, leaning forward. "So this, my friend," she said, gesturing at the upright log that they had brought in with them, which was adorned with steel chains and additional boards of wood that had been pounded into it, "is the Coniferous Mark XXI. Coniferous and its brethren have served us well in the past and will continue to serve us into the future."

Shifty-eyed, the young man held an uneasy smile. "That still doesn't really answer my question, though. Why is it there? What's with, uh, Coniferous Mark XXI and then, what happened to Mk. I through Mk. XX?"

"They did their duty," Jastra said solemnly. "We never go into a dungeon without a Coniferous with us."

"The duty of each and every Coniferous is to detect traps that have been laid out in the dungeons we delve into," Sora explained. "Whether they are tripwires, pressure plates, arrow traps, pit traps, spell traps, you name it, Coniferous always goes in first to make sure it's safe for us to proceed by springing the trap on itself and taking the blow for us, and far more often than not, Coniferous succeeds in dealing with these."

"And then there was that one archway we pushed Mk. XIV under where Coniferous was turned to solid platinum," Melbil reminded them. " _That_ was a close call."

"Yeah," Riku said, chuckling. "That one _was_ close."

"Too close," Yuffie said, glancing at him and frowning. "I like you much better like this and not as a statue."

"Does that help answer your question?" Jastra asked the young man at the microphone. He answered in the affirmative and bowed out to the side to head back to his seat.

"Hello," a middle-aged woman at the next microphone began. "So, I've heard rumours that several people have now received Keyblades; that they appeared when you all left. Is this true, and what in the worlds is that about?"

Everyone else at the table looked to their right to Sora. "Alright, I guess that's for me," Sora muttered. "So what happened there is that… uhm, a little background information on Keyblades here before we start. Keyblades are sentient weapons. They're not just like a sword or a knife that's just lying around; they have souls, they have emotions, they have egos. Keyblades, being magical, intelligent, god-forged weapons also choose their wielders. Before we were pulled into Mathmagicland, there were only nine of us left in the whole Realm of Light. Master Yen Sid's magically updating ledger even tells me so. We had me, Kairi, Riku, King Mickey, Roxas, Naminé, Yuffie, Asterix, and one other person who I will _not_ name to protect that person's identity. There have been so few Keyblades around since the end of the Keyblade War because the Keyblades themselves were afraid to put themselves in our hands again; they were afraid that mistakes would be made and more Wielders would end up on going rogue and making the worlds in the Realm of Light even more messed up.

"What happened when we defeated the Decimator; when that giant Heartless went down, sparked the same thing in the hearts of Keyblades all over as it did in many of you watching on the screen. It let them hope again. It let them hope that we _could_ turn things around; that we were able to drive back this overwhelming darkness that Maleficent is casting over our heads. In so doing, the Keyblades wanted to be back in this. They wanted to put themselves in our hands again and have faith that we'd bring back balance to the worlds. So, a number of people with strong hearts who were fighting on the battlefield with us have now been chosen by Keyblades to wield them and bring their power to bear upon Maleficent's allies and the forces of Darkness."

"How do you know that for sure?" Asha asked him.

"Oh, I talked to a few of the Keyblades," Sora replied, reaching forward to the water jug to fill a glass. "They kinda confirmed how they felt about things."

There was some light applause for his answer while Sora took a drink, and the next representative of the press came forward. "Good morning. Quick-step Crisis of _Lionden Today_. Master Sora, what's with the beard?" Sora quickly swallowed the water in his mouth, but still almost balked at the question the man was asking him.

"You're using up a press question to ask me about my _beard_?" Sora clarified. He'd read the question before in the notes that they had received from their new 'friend', but he hadn't seriously considered that someone would actually go ahead and _ask_ it. Must be a tabloid writer that snuck in. "Essentially it's because I can, and while Kairi outright vetoed a full beard she is fine with the goatee so long as I keep it neatly trimmed."

"You're darn right you're keeping it neatly trimmed," Kairi muttered. "It's soft and ticklish, but I don't need to be coughing up hairballs because of you."

"Okay, next question," Melbil said, looking towards the third public microphone. "Yes?"

"Hey, Sora, when did you start using a bow?"

Sora peered through the crowd towards the young woman asking that question. "Oh hey, Kia, I thought that looked like you. To answer your question, I started using a bow about three years ago, after Riku and I bought them during a long night of our first stay in Crafthall." He paused, thinking. "I could probably give you a run for your money, now, actually."

"Archery contest, at the butts, in the Great Maw, five o'clock," Kia challenged. "I've been an archer for a lot longer than you, Sora, and now that I've got a Keyblade that _is_ a bow, I am so going to have you eating those words." Sora held out his hands and waved his fingers back towards himself in a self-evident 'bring it' gesture.

"Alright, I'll be there," Sora told her. "Just so you know, Kia, in our first combat situation after Riku and I bought those bows I hit four kobolds, in the head, in a row, while shooting uphill, _through smoke_ , while being shot at, and the last one I made was while I _had a crossbow bolt piercing into my kidney!_ "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kia remarked dismissively. "I'll believe it when I see it this afternoon."

"I look forward to it," Sora told her. He waved his hand and his fellow native islander, smiling, turned away from the microphone stand and went back to her seat. "Okay, next question please."

"Hello," a young teen greeted them as she came up to the microphone and had it lowered to match her height. "So, I was just wondering, what are all of your relationships like now, compared to when you vanished through the portal?"

Furtive glances were made towards Roxas and Naminé, but Sora and Kairi answered first. "Well, Sora and I are still dating," Kairi said. "So not too much has changed on that front, though I do feel like we are a lot closer now than we were back then, if it's even possible."

"Riku and I are married!" Yuffie stated again, holding up her left hand and flashing the ring on her finger. "Married. Not single. Married. He's mine."

Everyone at the table, barring Shina, slowly turned their heads to look at Roxas and Naminé. The pair looked at one another for a long two seconds. "Shall I?" Roxas asked. Naminé seemed to consider the question for a long moment before nodding her head. Roxas nodded to himself and turned to the microphone. "Shina and I are married and we have an absolutely _beautiful_ baby girl," he announced definitively and without a shred of shame or embarrassment. Thinking about Iroviel, there was nothing but pride in his voice. He glanced to his left at his wife, sharing a smile at the thought of the little bundle of joy, tears, and screams that the two of them were raising together. Naminé idly took a sip of water from her glass in front of her, acting for all the world to see as if pandemonium wasn't suddenly raining in the seats of the crowd while their MC tried to bring everyone to order.

Leaning back away from the microphones, Roxas said, "Well, that went over pretty well, don't you think?"

"Oh _very_ well," Shina replied. "They're taking this news _much_ better than Nalthallas did when they discovered I was with child."

"I can only imagine what those elf halls were like when they found out," Melbil chuckled. "Lots of screaming and shouting, I expect?"

"Far from it, I'm afraid" Shina said sadly. "The whole court went into mourning, treating the entire affair as if I had just died. And to them, I had."

"As far as we're concerned, Shina, you're alive and well," Yuffie said supportively, also back away from the microphones. "And it's the Empire's loss and our gain for them arrogantly casting you out like they did."

"I know," Shina said, her sad smile gaining warmth again. "I've received so much warmth and love as a Wolf I don't even contemplate my life without having become one."

Finally, order was restored to the hall, and after another brief chastisement from Hank, the next press member came up to the microphone. "Miranda Styles, _Daily News_. This question is directed to our six young Keyblade Wielders at the table's left," she stated first, and then gave a tiny little cough into her hand before reading from the note card she was carrying. "You have spent much of your time aiming towards pleasure of youthful frivolity instead of striking against the enemy or saving the lives of the innocents caught in between the crossfire, despite your assertions of being heroes, warriors, and royal leaders. Rumours even lend to believe you spent several days _not_ engaging in the war effort, but fighting amongst each other in a tournament on another world for the prize of God-like powers for a day. Then, not only did you waste your own time and the time of the civilians being massacred during this conflict, you did not use your Godhood to assist in the battle in anyway. How do you respond to this gross negligence and dereliction of duty?"

An angry murmur had steadily risen among the crowd while Ms. Styles was talking, but at the accusatory question, several audience members shouted in disgust. Other audience members more aligned with the views of Ms. Styles responded with their own heated shouts. Hank desperately tried to quell the shouting match before it turned into a brawl, but it took Sora and Kairi's insistence to quiet the crowd again.

Sora addressed the audience members who had stood up for them."Thank you for your support," Sora said earnestly before pausing, then saying slowly, "but Ms. Styles is just doing her job, and… she has a point." Several people began vigorously shaking their heads, but the crowd remained silent this time. "We have been abject, pathetic, and unquestionably awful in the eyes of the public and the media these past couple of months on this issue, when we really shouldn't have been. I mean, you're looking at us all as these heroes and warriors who are going to save us all from Maleficent and the Heartless, and especially _me_ because I'd already saved the worlds twice. There's really no excuse to our behaviour, even though back then when I saved the worlds, saving the worlds was really just something that happened. I'd set out to find my friends, and saving the worlds was something that I did to necessitate finding and/or saving Riku and Kairi."

"I'm going to pop in here, too," Kairi said. "It still is absolutely no excuse, but our heads just were not in the game at the time. Everything we were doing, we were flying by the seat of our pants and leaving it up to King Mickey and Master Yen Sid and others who were many years our senior; really content to act as their pawns and do what they told us to do because we trusted them. We had no idea how to run a military campaign, how to gather intelligence, scout worlds, any of that. Essentially what Sora, Roxas, Riku, Naminé, and Yuffie did, I suppose a couple of weeks ago as far as this timeline is concerned, was follow Star Command's directive and go to a few of the worlds that Heartless were acting up on, put them down, and seal keyholes and were about to move on until Sora found out that Maleficent was going to send a huge assault force to Radiant Garden. We, collectively we, since I was already here because I'd been injured in the tournament you mentioned, Ms. Styles, then put the brakes on taking the fight to her again, and came back here to defend Radiant Garden."

"A lot of what we've been doing has been defending," Riku said. "Defending Radiant Garden, defending Destiny Islands, defending Twilight Town, defending Radiant Garden and Destiny Islands again, defending Olympus Coliseum after the Zeus Cup finished…the last time we actually earnestly attacked was when we forced her out of The Castle That Never Was. And perhaps one of the reasons why we hadn't been going on the offensive is because there _were_ so few of us and the threat posed by some of the newer, stronger Heartless was great enough that, as Kairi said, we were content to be pawns of our superiors and train under their direction, using the convenient Zeus Cup as a test of our skills after that month or so of training."

"I also have no excuse for our 'frivolity' or the Godhood," Roxas said. "I immaturely asked to be God of Ice Cream, but one of the caveats of this Godhood was that we could not assume another god's profile under the Olympian Pantheon, so neither of us could just take over from Zeus and start hurling down lightning bolts worlds away. So while Sora and I did receive godlike powers for a day, Sora chose to be the God of Hope, and you may not have noticed it but during that time he actually _did_ passively use it for raising everybody's spirits and hopes; however the usage my own power was completely immature and childish."

"To be fair, though," Kairi added, "the gods are not supposed to intervene _directly_. They are supposed to influence events to transpire in ways that they deem as favourable to them. So even if Sora and Roxas did _want_ to be Gods of fiery destruction, they would not have been _allowed_ to use that power in any meaningful way to take down Maleficent. If the gods were able to solve this conflict, they'd have done so already."

"I agree with Sora, here," Naminé also chimed in. "We, maybe, _understood_ , what it was that we should have been doing at the time, but at the same time the gravity of the situation never really truly kicked in, which is really odd considering that the home town Sora, Riku, and Kairi all grew up in was destroyed. Like Sora said, Maleficent is a threat, she's a very substantial threat, but there wasn't something incredibly dear to us that Maleficent was dangling over our heads, forcing us to act. She doesn't have any of our close childhood friends, family members, or crushes captive; we're not tracking down some lost friends and wiping out Heartless on the side; it's this big overarching goal of 'defeat Maleficent, save the worlds, bring back the balance and the peace'; and when you put that in front of a small group of kids who are sixteen to eighteen, that's a _lot_ of pressure to put on them in the span of three months, especially when it's just an overarching goal and more like a concept than something that is broken down into steps and an achievable plan."

"So the 'frivolity' and tournament was really an escapist coping instinct?" Shina asked, looking at her friends and husband.

"I don't know if I'd psychoanalyze us that far," Sora said, "but whatever we were doing at the time was certainly keeping us from feeling overwhelmed by everything we knew we needed to do, and all the preparation that everyone around us was going through to assist us, whether we were consciously aware of it or not."

Their supporters had listened with bitter looks, but begrudgingly let the six explain themselves without complaint. Ms. Styles, however, looked down her nose at them, clearly not satisfied with their answers. "And what's to stop you from acting frivolously again?"

"Well, clearly we need to be held accountable…" Kairi inserted quickly before things got heated again, but she was interrupted by an audience member standing resolutely.

"I was at that tournament," Kia stated loudly. "I need to be held accountable too."

There was a great scraping of chairs as more people stood up to declare the same thing. Nearly one fifth of the crowd was standing by the time the scraping stopped.

"If you are going to hold Kairi accountable, then you need to hold _all_ of us accountable," boomed Chief Guardian Garda as he rose from his chair last amongst them. "For as you can see, the Keyblade Wielders in front of you were not the only ones that were using the tournament as an opportunity to test the fruits of their training. Full companies of our troops competed with one another for the right to compete in this tournament, and I myself joined, to see for myself how much our strength and skill had increased. This was not a frivolous tournament from our standpoint, despite the grand rewards; the Zeus Cup was a training exercise, needed to gauge our preparedness before we launched any offensive combat operations. With its conclusion and with our victory on the field of battle on Sunday, we are ready to take the fight out there, to our enemy, who knows now that we are coming for her!"

The group of Keyblade Wielders clapped loudly for their Chief Guardian, as did many in the audience, while Ms. Styles awkwardly sat down in her chair, rebuffed and humbled by the rebuttal to her stinging, but still entirely accurate, line of questioning.

"Thank you for that," Hank said, again stepping in to moderate for a moment. "Could we have the next question, please?"

A young man, dressed in an undone grey blazer, white collared shirt with the top half unbuttoned to reveal a meticulously shaved chest, and black pants with a gold belt buckle in the shape of an 'L' came up to the microphone. His hair was rich and full, an immaculate covering of golden blond hair that was conditioned and pampered to perfection. Small gold chains looped around his neck, and he wore sunglasses inside. He took them off, wearing this strange smirk on his face as though he found what he was about to ask to be somewhat humourous in nature. "This is a question for Master Sora and Princess Kairi." He paused and broke eye contact, looking up towards the ceiling. "Hmm, now how do I put this…? Have you two fucked yet? I mean, if it's not a personal question."

The two in question were too stunned to immediately answer, but mouths across the table dropped. Sure, the Wolves made bets and joked around a little, but all in good fun, as every single one of them had walked in on and interrupted the pair before they could actually do the deed at least five times. The subject came up far less than it had in the past as the situation had become an issue that was exactly where it belonged; it had been relegated to the background of their lives as something that they knew was going on but was not near important enough to stress over. Jared and Jastra chuckled a little after a moment, and Alisha turned to Louise and said, "Did he just say what I think he said?" Sylla covered her mouth with her hand to hide and smother her laughter.

"Excuse me?" Naminé deadpanned at the youth. " _Excuse_ me? Did you seriously just ask that? There are children here!"

" _If it's not a personal question!?_ " Kairi burst out. "How much more personal could you get!? I am not answering this question!" Plato roared from her shoulder, a jet of angry flame emerging from the tiny fire elemental's mouth and reaching ten feet in length. Despite the short length of the burst of flame, the heat could be felt by those sitting in the front row of the press gallery.

"I could take care of that problem for you, then," the questioner added suggestively.

"Out!" Melbil demanded. "I know that this is a town hall where ye can ask us questions," her tone was gravely seriously as she spoke, and her accent came back with a vengeance, "but questions like _that_ ; questions like _that_ …ye can leave." She pointed towards the doors. "Go. That question, and those like it? They're inappropriate, and ye should know where tah draw the line. Go on. Git! Or ye'll feel the wrath of the Zeleroltars!"

"Thank you, Melbil," Sora said, and turned to look at the young man. He was smirking something fierce, with his smirk directed at Sora directly in a way that infuriated him, and then turned to leave. The nerve of that punk! Asking a question like that in public? Wasn't there anyone vetting these public questions before they were asked, or did this guy just sneak in there?

"Sora…?" Yuffie asked suggestively, her voice being sent to him on a magic whisper the microphones could not catch.

"No," he answered softly. "He's not worth lynching just for this."

"He's insulting your manhood," Yuffie whispered. "I've seen your manhood. There's no way you should take this insult lying down."

"Enough, Yuffie," Sora said, forcing himself to calm down. "Doing something like that is the last thing we need right now."

"I should think it would have gone without saying, but I would like to remind the audience to please be respectful of our guests and others in the audience in the wording and subject matter of their questions," Hank sternly warned the crowd. The next person who was standing at the microphone was, understandably, nervous.

"So, uh, my question is nothing like that one," this older middle-aged man said. "Shina Starbrow?"

"Yeeesssss?" the elf asked slowly with her smile small and bright as she turned to look at him, having been addressed directly.

"Can you sing?"

"Well that is a refreshingly easy question to answer," Shina stated. "Would you just like me to answer, or shall I demonstrate for you?"

"If you're willing," he replied.

"I don't know." Shina hummed into her hand. "I haven't warmed up at all. I doubt you all would find my singing voice appealing." She was intentionally stoking them and they all knew it. Her speaking voice alone was beautiful. The crowd erupted in cheers and calls for her to demonstrate. "Alright," Shina laughed after a moment. "You've talked me into it. Yuffie, Sora, Wispy, Riku, if you please." Shina stood from her chair, taking the microphone from its stand on the table, and adjusted the skirt of her dress before walking around the table to stand in front of it. Behind the table, trying not to draw too much attention to themselves, Sora, Riku, and Yuffie started withdrawing instruments from hidden bags.

Shina took a deep breath, preparing herself mentally. She turned her head back, and her eyes fell onto Roxas and Naminé. Without even thinking about it or taking advantage of their magical _message_ spell the group always had cast so that they might discuss things in quiet whispers with one another, Shina knew what it was that she wanted to sing, and just knew that her musical accompaniment would pick up on it instantly.

" _Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Sha ta co ti oh nugga tír na nóg  
Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Nug a tír na nóg"  
_

True to form and recognizing the song instantly, Yuffie and Wispy waited until Shina had finished the opening chorus _a cappella_ before providing the initial accompaniment with their fiddle and pipes. Sora gently began strumming his guitar as they stopped and Riku softly started up on his drum, and Shina's voice reached out over the hall again.

" _Come my love, our worlds may part  
The gods will guide us across the dark.  
Come with me and be mine my love,  
Stay and break my heart._

 _From the shores through the ancient mist  
You bear the mark of my elven kiss.  
Clear the way, I will take you home  
To eternal bliss."  
_

The whole group came together, playing and singing strongly for the full chorus while Kairi, Jastra, and Asha, who couldn't help themselves, softly provided some backup vocals for the leading elf. Shina smiled as she sang, her feet moving swiftly and her hips and shoulders swinging. To an elf, and especially one of high lineage and nobility, music was as much a part of life as eating or drinking. Even moreso, it was something that was often a source of joy and passion, and Shina was an elf of great passion.

 _"Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Sha ta co ti oh nugga tír na nóg  
Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Nug a tír na nóg_

 _Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna_  
 _Sha ta co ti oh nugga tír na nóg_  
 _Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna_  
 _Nug a tír na nóg_

 _Tír na nóg, oh!_  
 _Come beyond the ancient fog!_  
 _Tír na nóg, oh!_  
 _Come with me to tír na nóg!_

 _Far away from the land you knew  
The dawn of day reaches out to you;  
Though it feels like a fairy tale  
All of this is true._

 _Run with me, have a look around  
We build our life of a sacred ground.  
Come my love, our worlds may part  
We'll be safe and sound._

 _Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Sha ta co ti oh nugga tír na nóg  
Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Nug a tír na nóg_

 _Tír na nóg, oh!  
Come beyond the ancient fog!  
Tír na nóg, oh!  
Come with me to tír na nóg!"  
_

The crowd were entranced by Shina's singing voice, holding on to her every word as she sang to them while she danced like a feather in the wind. Each person who beheld her was enraptured in the performance, thoroughly captivated by the passion in her voice and in the music of those members providing it. Very few in the room had known that anyone at the table had any skill in musical instruments as well as fighting, so hearing Yuffie playing a violin, Riku a drum, Sora a guitar, and Sora's familiar a set of pan pipes was almost as pleasant a surprise as Shina's singing was.

The elf started again after a few seconds of instrumental accompaniment, and her eyes had turned back towards the table. Centred within her vision, as though this next bit of the folk song regarding the land of her race's gods was for them and them alone, were her husband and her conflicted lover. Both of their eyes shone with their love for her, Roxas' most clearly of all, and it made Shina's heart erupt with warmth as the words leapt from her heart and into the open.

" _Time won't follow the path we came  
The worlds you left, they forgot your names  
Stay with me and be mine my loves  
Spare my heart the pain."_

After a very brief pause that was far more intimate than was originally intended due to Shina's tiny bit of ad-libbing in the verse, Riku pounded the drum, signalling Shina to drive into the finale. She whipped her head around, facing the crowd again, and sang out the final chorus with unmatched gaiety that encouraged those who were not already dancing in their seats to do so. Yuffie was dancing beside Shina as she played her violin, and Wispy had been encouraging such behaviour from the beginning, flying over the heads of the crowded hall and performing enthusiastic twists, spins, and aerial dances only an elemental could do whilst playing her pipes.

" _Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Sha ta co ti oh nugga tír na nóg  
Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Nug a tír na nóg_

 _Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Sha ta co ti oh nugga tír na nóg  
Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna  
Nug a tír na nóg_

 _Tír na nóg, oh!  
Come beyond the ancient fog!  
Tír na nóg, oh!  
Come with me to tír na nóg!_

 _Come with me to tír na nóg!"_

Shina finished the song and bowed. The crowd rose to their feet, clapping, whistling, and cheering her on with a standing ovation.

The next reporter to the stand waited until Shina had returned to her seat, noting that Wispy was still flying around above everybody's heads, happily playing her pan pipes in a merry tune of her own creation, before asking the next question. "Peter Sawbuck, GBN News. This is more of a general question, but, Asha and Sylla." The two in question looked more intently at him."You two both sounded like you have interesting backgrounds; an angel and a… what was it? A battlerager?"

"Yes," Sylla replied proudly.

"Could you please give us a more detailed introduction of yourselves and how you know Sora?" Peter asked.

"So just to clarify," Asha enquired, "you would like each of us to explain how we met with the six of them over there and joined them?"

"Correct," Peter replied.

"Well, again, I am a deva, otherwise known as an angel," Asha declared again, not that anyone doubted the woman with ivory skin, silver hair, golden eyes like the sun, and giant white wings coming out of her back. "I am a warrior of the celestial hosts of the heavens, descended to the mortal planes to vanquish evil from the lands and befriend worthy warriors of goodly…" Asha paused, chuckled, and sighed. "I'm sorry. Sora? She's being a bit of a hindrance at present." Asha tilted her head.

Sora got the gist. "Right, sorry about that." He whistled, and Wispy felt his displeasure, though he couldn't hide his amusement. She stopped playing her pipes and giggled at him in her airy voice, her laugh sounding like wind chimes to those nearby. Sora held her eyes for a few seconds in what appeared to be a staring contest while still keeping a small smile on his lips. Wispy relented and flew back to his side, handing him her pipes, which Sora promptly put away in his bag of holding. Sora nodded to Asha.

"My apologies," Asha said as she began again. "Befriend warriors of goodly hearts. Our friends up here are just such people, and I met them while I was tracking down a demon that had escaped from the bonds of the foolish wizard who had summoned it," Asha announced. "The Fearless Wolves offered their assistance, and I've been hunting evil with them at my side ever since," she finished, a bold smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, did you say a demon?" Peter asked.

"Yes, a demon," Asha answered. "A wizard, who was not as smart as he'd believed, stole a copy of a scroll with the instructions of how to summon a demon from the Abyss written upon it. He did not prepare as thoroughly as he had thought; there was an imperfection in the magic circle he'd created when he'd summoned the demon in order to keep it contained and protect him, for the demon had slain him soon after he'd been summoned and left the wizard's body to rot. This demon then went to ground and slowly began building his power over the course of a number of years. By the time I learned of this, the demon was firmly entrenched, ruling over a trio of towns from the shadows. I felt as though I could probably handle this demon by myself, but I knew that it would be tricky without some assistance, and at the time I did not know what _type_ of demon the wizard had summoned into the world, or if it had summoned more demons. Chance and rumour brought the Fearless Wolves to the region, and there our partnership was forged in the fires of battle against the demons and their agents."

"They were really nasty bad guys!" Aiwemon blurted out, Menelmon agreeing next to him with a nod of her head.

Sylla grunted next to Asha, taking up the microphone. "I met them because out of everyone here, I was the only one who had heard of them before and actively sought them out. The stories I'd heard made them seem like a glory-seeking rough and tumble bunch, and while they maybe weren't _exactly_ that, they're a fun lot to be around and they've grown on me." Sylla scratched her chin for a few seconds, thinking. "Ah, yes, you also asked about what a battlerager is, right? Well, you're looking at one!" she declared proudly and laughed. "For the uninformed, a battlerager is a special breed of fighter—"

"Yeah, an insane one," Louise interjected.

"Hush, you," Sylla rebuffed. The young servant girl rolled her eyes. "Anyway, a special breed of fighter. We do not use weapons; our bodies _are_ our weapons! We don thick steel plate, armed with spikes and sharpened ridges, and throw ourselves at our enemies! They die in our arms as we thrash about, punching and stabbing, slicing them up as we wriggle around in a wrestling match to the death!"

"It also helps that because you're so small, they can't exactly throw you off without hurting themselves while they're at it," Jastra commented. "It is a bit of an extreme, but effective, method of fighting."

Sylla thumped her fist down on the table and looked up and down the table. " _See_ , she gets it! Why can't the rest of you?"

"No, we get it…" Melbil said.

"…but it still doesn't keep us from thinking you're insane for doing it," Naminé added. Erry hissed from around her shoulders, and waved his head towards the crowd. Naminé took the hint and signalled to the public. "Next question, please."

The next person from the public stepped up to the microphone. "So, um, so what skills or powers have you gained over your past three years?"

"Too many to name," replied Naminé simply, "and if we were to talk about them it could be a security risk. We don't know who all is watching this broadcast. Next question, please."

"As you said three days ago, when you vanished you were actually gone for three years, are there any embarrassing moments or stories that you're willing to share?"

Grinning, everyone at the table leaned back and glanced at each other. "Where would you like us to start?" Melbil asked, grinning even wider.

"If I recall correctly," Jastra started, "there was something involving Kairi and chickens."

"That's your fault to begin with!"

"Or Sora and a broken potion."

"Do they want to hear embarrassing stories about all of us, or just you six?" Jenny asked the questioner.

"I think they really care about those six, as a matter of fact." Jastra said."If we were to sit here swapping stories about _all_ of us we'd be here all day."

"We'd still be here all day if we told them _everything_ ," Jared chuckled.

"What about the spiders?" Alisha asked. "Should we tell them about the spiders?"

"NO!" Sora and Kairi shouted in mild panic.

"I think we should tell them about the spiders," Naminé said. "It's not like we can really tell them Sora's potion story; there are children present."

"You would like to tell them the spider story, wouldn't you?" Sora retorted. "Miss Buttery Justice?"

"I said that _once!_ " Naminé groaned. " _Once!_ "

"And I will never let you live it down," Sora answered.

"Spider story!" Yuffie suddenly declared, ignoring the protests of their leading man and lady. "Okay, so a while back there, somewhere around two years ago, Kairi had been randomly complaining about how there was no really good silk that you could get locally around Lensar. Most of the fabric you _can_ get in that area is wool or hemp and there used to be a little silk, but not much. To get anything good the closest place you'd need to go would be to the capital city of Tyrden or you'd need to order it from somewhere else, and that can take a long time for it to get to you by merchant caravan." Yuffie paused. "Now that I think about it, this isn't really so much of an embarrassing story."

"It is when you remember what happens," Melbil reminded her.

"Oh right…anyway, so Kairi had been complaining about how there just wasn't any good silk in town. The next thing we know, Lotte and Asha have vanished. They're just gone. There's no notes, no ransom message, no conversations with anyone; they just up and disappeared. The sad part is that we didn't even notice they were gone for four days because that was right around the time Shina showed up and Count Oswald passed and threw us all into chaos. We don't see them for a whole two months, and when we next do, it's to the entire town screaming and alarm bells ringing."

"That was fun," Lotte said with a wicked grin.

"But of course we're thinking it's another baron attacking the fief," Alisha says, rolling her eyes at the halfling down the table. "So our fighters all rush out to join the militia at the baroness' request, and then we find that it's just Lotte and Asha riding back into town with two dozen giant cave spiders behind them that they had tamed in the Underdark."

"There's no _just_ about it, Alisha," Kairi said. "There were two dozen **Giant. Cave. Spiders.** I almost had a freaking heart attack and died!"

"And the fact that Lotte and Alisha brought them back as presents for me and Kairi," Sora added in complete bewilderment, "it almost put the nails into our coffins."

"For those of you who don't know," Naminé said, "our illustrious leaders here, Sora and Kairi, are deathly terrified of spiders; especially twelve-foot tall spiders that both spin and actually _spit_ webs."

"So the sight of two dozen of these things right in their faces…" Riku laughed as he remembered it. "Their screams rang in my ear for two days."

"And the best part was Lotte and I tamed the beasts," Asha boomed, "just so Kairi could get her fine silk. The _finest_ and most _expensive_ silk to acquire in the whole world, I might add."

"But you know who truly benefited from that?" Shina said, "Iroviel – our daughter – and the baroness. Iroviel so she could have the softest silk wrappings on her wittle bottom, and Adelwine from all the tax gold she could collect from the silk farm we created."

"I am never going even remotely near that silk farm," Kairi hissed. "I don't _care_ that it's how we get a good deal of gold, it's got two dozen of the biggest, meanest, creepiest spiders ever to walk the worlds infesting it."

"You forgot about the egg sacks," Roxas casually muttered. Sora's and Kairi's faces visibly paled and they fell deathly silent. "And the _thousands_ of eggs in them," Roxas maliciously added, just twisting the knife in them. The group at the table was quiet for a few seconds until a quiet scream left somebody's mouth and was picked up by a microphone, at which point they burst out into uproarious laughter.

"Well how 'bout the time we travelled through that tower with all the weird magic traps?" Melbil asked.

"Or when we made Riku and Roxas wear women's clothes?" Jenny added.

"I think the one story was enough, everyone," Jastra said, motioning to the crowd. "We have more questions to answer." Agreeing that more stories could wait until later, they called for the next question, and the day continued on.

-A-D-

 _Thank you all for waiting patiently for this chapter, and I apologize for not answering_ _ **all**_ _of the questions. The chapter itself was getting to be quite long already and had been taking far too long in the writing for me to complete it._

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


	7. Radiant Garden VII

_I'M ALIVE!_

 _And so is Kingdom Hearts 3 by the looks of things. I can't wait for the new reveals of things next month, though I do wonder why Square couldn't just do it at E3._

 _Disclaimer:_ _I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or anything else that shows up in this work of fiction that somebody else created first._

-A-D-

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter Seven: Radiant Garden VII

Exhaustion was thoroughly set into their bodies and minds at the end of the day as the Wolves trudged back into the castle. In each of their minds the questions they had received continued to repeat.

" _Master Sora, will you marry me?"_

" _What was with Princess Naminé's tic of unconsciously stripping down to her skivvies?"_

" _Those powerful warriors that dropped down to defend us for a while when you were away, who were they exactly, and where did they come from? And WHY did they leave before you came back?"_

" _We've seen your Keyblades transform, most recently we saw Princess Kairi become a dragon, when before she only partially looked like one. What does all that entail? And where did you learn them?"_

" _This is a question for the Dragon Knight. Your Keyblade right now looks, super, awesome. How did your Keyblade change?"_

" _What does a dwarf princess actually do?"_

" _Who is going to be training the new Keyblade Wielders?"_

" _How can I get my own Keyblade?"_

" _What kind of training do you do as a Keyblade Wielder?"_

" _Miss angel, what's Heaven like?"_

Answering questions and dodging others because the audience was asking for information that the Wolves were not willing to give out had been tiring enough, but Kairi's announcement later that day of abdicating her claim to the throne when there were people already starting to plan her coronation had thrown them into another whirlwind of reporters and spherecams, and this time they didn't have a spy providing them with the off-the-cuff questions that demanded quick-thinking to provide decent answers.

" _How do you plan to ease the transition of power from the House of Commons and Senate back to the monarchy and Princess Naminé?"_

" _Is this abdication of your rightful inheritance another abandonment of your duty to your people?"_

" _What prompted you to abdicate your right to the throne?"_

" _What do you plan on doing now? Are you still going to be involved in governing in an advisory capacity or are you stepping back entirely?"_

The tour of the hospital was no less exhausting for an entirely different reason, as those who went with Kairi ran themselves and any magic they could call upon ragged, healing and comforting the injured from the battle earlier in the week.

Even there, they hadn't been spared from the camera flashes and the prodding of the reporters, nor had Sora been immune to them when he went to accept Kia's archery contest, which he barely lost. The press was all about them that day, hovering around them like vultures to a dying desert wanderer or swarms of blood-sucking midges to anything big and warm-blooded in a marsh.

Consumed with their memories of the questions asked throughout the day, some weighing much heavier than others, they returned to the warmth of the castle; however, what awaited them was not something that they were prepared to deal with.

Iroviel had heard the news that mommy and daddy were back, and thundered towards them on her little legs, closely chased by a frazzled-looking servant who looked about ready to pick his charge up until his eyes spotted the returned Wolves. His look of relief at their presence spoke to just how much energy the little rascal still had and how much trouble she may have been causing. Her mouth, hands, and various places on her body were covered in something deep and red, which at first gave her extended family the terrifying thought that she was bleeding horribly. However, given that she wasn't screeching in pain and the servant hadn't gone deathly pale upon spotting the young half-elf's parents, an injury couldn't possibly be the cause of such large amounts of red splattered all over her, her yellow gown, and being left behind by her footprints.

"Sweetie, you're all messy!" Shina said, kneeling down and lifting her daughter up into her arms at face level. "What is this?" she asked, pointing at the red marks on her face.

"Kup," Iroviel giggled, smiling and giggling in innocent joy. Roxas swiped a finger across her cheek, finding some of whatever it was that hadn't yet dried, and brought it to his nose. He sniffed, and then licked it with his tongue. Roxas' eyes widened as he looked at his wife and daughter.

"They gave her ketchup," he said. He looked at the servant, a young man appearing to be in his mid-twenties who sighed and shrugged helplessly.

"What's ketchup?" Shina asked.

"The bane of your existence," Riku chuckled. "Given how happy she is, good luck getting her to eat anything without it being smothered in ketchup for the next five years."

"That sounds right," the servant said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "She wasn't eating, so one of us suggested giving her some ketchup to eat with her food. It worked all too well. She suddenly wouldn't eat anything unless it had ketchup on it and it felt like ketchup became the meal and food the vehicle to get ketchup into her mouth."

"Oh dear," Jastra tittered, "that sounds far too yummy for her. But I do wonder, though. What _is_ ketchup?"

"A tomato-based condiment that is loaded in sugar," Sora said. "That's probably why she likes it so much." He sighed. "I just hope you saved some supper for us. I'm starving."

"This way," the servant said, extending his hand towards the landing above the golden mermaid statue. "I'll go inform the kitchen to take your food off the warmers."

Garda entered as they were eating in the main hall, coming towards them with King Mickey at his side and Prince Alexander of Destiny Islands somewhat behind. "You've had a busy day, haven't you, girl?" he asked Kairi with a grin as he approached.

"How did we do?" Kairi asked him, just looking up from the chicken thigh she was eating to wipe her fingers off on a napkin and bring her goblet of mead to her lips.

"I think you did well," he said. "So far the news has been portraying you all in a positive light, though there are some pundits that are of the opposite opinion. Most people I have spoken to seem to be giving you the benefit of the doubt, considering your age and the fact that while you may not have been constantly engaging the enemy, you were in training at the time because _we_ adults put you in that position instead of sending you out. It also helps that this is something that was just thrust on you and you haven't been in constant grooming for this responsibility since birth."

"Of course, some people don't see it that way," said Prince Alexander. "They will believe, and somewhat rightly, that as heroes or as princes or princesses you should be aware of and know your obligations and how to act accordingly in all situations, regardless of how much time has passed since you actually came into the role or if you're even well-versed in matters of state or command. Once you've stopped being cute, the public starts treating you as an adult and not as they would their own child." He spoke with a tone that spoke volumes about his personal experience with the matter, which Melbil and Shina both nodded in agreement to.

"Well, let them think that," King Mickey assured them. "Just know that we're all behind ya, Sora. You've all grown up a lot between when ya vanished through the portal. It's taking time to get used to it. Are you still going through with your plan?"

"Yeah," Sora said. "They may not like it, but Kairi and I will be gone in the morning. Naminé, how's that portal coming along?"

"Attuning it to our headquarters in Olomund is taking longer than I expected," she said. "There were some problems with it when we came through the portal from the Tower. I'm not even sure where it's going at the moment, but anything that goes through is coming back either frozen to something close to absolute zero or is baked into plasma. I think I may have figured out the problem, though, so I should have it fixed in a few days."

"A portal?" Alexander asked.

"I made a portable portal to our company headquarters in Olomund," Naminé answered. "However, crossing dimensions appears to have fuddled with the magic keeping it stable, so I'm currently spending time trying to get it working properly again. Roxas only has a limited amount of metal that we were able to bring along with us, so we need to get our supply lines opened again so that he can continue to make and repair our armour and other weapons."

"Last I checked, solarium didn't exist in our worlds," Roxas said. "Or, if it does – since it has to considering we have Keyblades and the Chasers were able to make this armour I've never heard of a mine for it anywhere."

"You're looking for a solarium mine?" King Mickey asked.

"Yeah, you know of one?" Roxas asked. Mickey shook his head.

"Not myself, no," Mickey said. "We don't have that metal on our world, but there was a world where the Chasers did build a great library separate from their main headquarters on the home world of the Cetra. If we go to that world, we should be able to find records or other information on where they got their materials from."

"It's definitely something we should look into," Melbil said, looking to Roxas. "Ye know how valuable solarium, starsilver, and zeutite are to us in Olomund."

"If I could find a mine of any of them it'd certainly help me out," Roxas said, nodding. "I don't want to use up the Wolves' coffers on my personal projects for the new Keyblade Wielders over here when they could still use the gold over there."

"Then I'll see about getting us to that world as soon as we're ready to depart," Mickey said. "How soon do you want to be off?"

"How soon can the _Starlight_ put out?" Naminé asked.

"She suffered only light damage, so if needed she could be out in a day or two."

"Great," Riku reacted to the Chief Guardian's reply. "Load her up and ship out. I want us away from these reporters as soon as possible." Sora nodded in agreement. If they were going to be slammed for not doing enough, then the best way to rectify that, rather than arguing, was to go out and just do it; and continue to do more and more until there was nothing that a reporter could say without mountains of evidence to the contrary.

" _I_ want you to be away from these reporters as soon as possible," another voice loudly complained. The corners of Riku's mouth twitched upwards in a smirk and he turned his head as Dawn emerged out from his back. She twisted her body around in an unnaturally rubber-like way so that she could look at him while still being tethered to his back. " _Rikuuuuuu_ … how long are you going to have me not come out? Would it really be that bad if they were to get snapshots of me?"

"Dawn, you're an existence that we can't let the general public know about," Riku tried to gently placate her. Dawn raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Really?" she asked. "After you let me out during the Zeus Cup where we had so many people watching, and when we in front of all those trainee soldiers when Renji fought us with his bankai, and during the battle when we were fighting the Decimator…"

"She's got you there, Riku," Yuffie giggled.

"I've flashily been on camera and you're trying to deny my existence now?" Dawn said, narrowing her eyes further in scrutiny. She reached out with her hands, intending to grab Riku's cheeks. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you were embarrassed of me or something."

Iroviel laughed as she watched Dawn grab and stretch her "uncle's" cheeks in different ways.

"Well, you _have_ been doting on him a lot ever since he got you that scabbard," Kairi chuckled.

"You aren't a Keyblade; you don't know how awesome those scabbards are!" Dawn refuted. She let go of Riku's cheeks and placed her hands on her currently unformed hips. "Well, if I'm supposed to remain subjected to not coming out yet, I suppose I shall have to suffer through it. However, once we're on our own ship again, I'm coming out!"

Dawn dove back into Riku's back, and he just shook his head, not noticing the way Naminé slightly froze at the words his Keyblade was saying.

"Going to that library's probably a good move," Sora said. "Besides looking for sources of metal for Roxas, you could probably also research anything that the Chasers had on the Cornerstones."

"I hadn't thought of that," Yuffie muttered. "That's a good idea."

"It's more than a good idea," Naminé said, recovering. "If the Chasers did any research at all on the Cornerstones, it could save us months, or even _years_ of searching for them." She looked to King Mickey, who awkwardly shrugged.

"Gosh, I never really researched the Cornerstones a whole lot," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "It wasn't somethin' I was really interested in, back in the day. I only learned a bit about 'em because of the Cornerstone of Light. I just know how many there are, but I can't remember what they're called, apart from the Cornerstone of Darkness."

"Cornerstone of Darkness?" Roxas asked, narrowing his eyes. "Well, that does make sense. If there's one of Light, there has to be one of Darkness to balance it out."

"How much ye want tah bet yer enemy Maleficent already has her hands on it?" Melbil asked.

"Not even a single copper coin," Sora said. "If my memory is right, and it could be wrong, we only found out about Maleficent wanting the Cornerstones a couple of weeks ago in this timeline.* She's hopefully just as much in the dark as to where they are as we are."

"And the Realm of Light is a really big place," Yuffie said. "With thousands and thousands of worlds out there a couple of weeks' head start isn't really enough to give her an edge."

Nodding their heads in agreement, the conversation ended there as they finished up eating their dinner before going their separate ways for the evening.

-A-D-

Naminé walked into the parlour later that evening, a cup of tea in her hands. Kensworth had come to her, stating that Kairi had asked if she could come to see her. Her sister was standing near the window, looking out at the winter landscape. Snow and ice frosted the cliffs around them and the limbs of the trees in a timeless picture of winter. Naminé sipped at her tea as she entered and placed the cup back on the saucer she carried. It was an herbal and berry blend with an added bit of honey that had quickly become her favourite in Olomund, so she really needed to get that portal working again if she was to procure more.

"Kensworth told me that you wanted to see me," Naminé said, taking another sip before putting her tea down on an end table beside a couch, "which is unusual, because we don't often _summon_ one another."

"Summon seems to be a bit much," Kairi said with a bit of a smile. "But yes I did send for you, Naminé. There's something I wanted to talk about." Naminé smiled back and turned towards her tea again while Kairi turned fully around to gaze out the large window.

"Oh? What about? Boys? The constant quest of you and Sora to get laid? Our plans for the immediate or distant future?"

"Actually your thoughts about today, because you're going to hate me for it; for what I did today," Kairi said. Naminé chose to ignore her tea and instead slowly turned back towards her sister. Kairi's back remained to her, the redhead looking out the balcony window at the cold night sky.

"Hate you for what?" Naminé asked, adding a slightly incredulous laugh into her statement.

"For abdicating," Kairi replied simply. She turned around, and Naminé could see that her sister seemed to be unnerved. "You may not hate me now, but you will."

"Kairi what brought this on?" Naminé asked.

"They're right, you know," Kairi said, turning her head to the side and not meeting her sister's gaze. "I am running away. I didn't even give them enough time tostart calling meQueen, let alone plan the coronation."

"Kairi…" Naminé said slowly. "Your path is… different. No one will fault you for this, for not wanting the Crown."

"Oh they will," Kairi said. "And they have every right to. I'm abandoning my birthright; abandoning my birth father's legacy, my ancestors, and the people of my birth; and for what?" Kairi asked with a helpless little laugh. "Adventure? A personal life? A possible medical career?"

"Kairi you have a bigger destiny," Naminé insisted. "You and Sora. If you were Queen, and Sora really took his place as head of the Keyblade Wielders… it would be too politically challenging to handle that kind of life. It'd tear your relationship apart or would destroy the monarchy, or both."

"But now they have to shift everything to you." Kairi turned again to meet Naminé's eyes once more. They quivered at the suddenness and sureness of Kairi's words, and she continued. "You have to be elevated to being the most important person to the people of Radiant Garden. And you're already in what some would call a scandalous position that could destroy the monarchy anyway. There are so many stories the papers are going to run I have no idea what's going to make the front page. My abdication, your oath of loyalty to Sora, oryour boyfriend's romance with Shina?"

Naminé stilled, and then she was the one who turned aside. "Why bring that up?" she asked quietly. "You know how I feel about that."

"Actually I don't, Naminé, not really, because you don't talk to me about it," Kairi replied.

"So Sora doesn't just turn around and tell you everything behind my back?" Naminé said bitingly, and then immediately regretted voicing such a lack of trust in her lord. She paused. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to imply…"

"No, it's fine," Kairi said simply. "Sora and I are constantly together and close as can be. It's natural to assume we'd share everything. But when it comes to you, Sora only tells me things generally, he doesn't go into any specifics. He respects your privacy."

Naminé felt a rush of gratitude towards her sister's intended-to-be, but it still didn't quell her anxiety concerning the subject of Roxas and Shina. "You still haven't answered my question," she said. "Why bring up Roxas and Shina now?"

"Because I'm going to be gone for a while, Naminé," Kairi said. "I'm leaving to give Selphie's mom the news personally, and when I'm done I'm going to join Sora on Amestris to have Winry and…what's her name? Pinache? well, Winry's grandmother look over the work the gnomes did making my leg while they adjust Sora's arm. Then we're heading to Middle-earth together to protect the Ring-Bearer from the Heartless on his journey and join the war effort there. This may be our last chance to talk for a while, so…I wanted to talk. Face-to-face."

Kairi finally sat down, hands clasped together in front of her. She bowed her head, eyes occasionally flickering up to look at Naminé.

"I have put you in a difficult position, even if you don't recognize it yet," Kairi murmured. "You're a Knight of Radiant Garden,you swore an oath of loyalty to a foreign party, Sora, which could complicate political matters for you; and your lover is married to and has a child with another woman." Kairi looked up fully at Naminé. "Due to my abdication, I have forced you into being Queen Naminé, should you choose to take that name, even though you haven't had your coronation yet, Your Majesty."

A chill went down Naminé's spine at Kairi's words. There was no sarcasm, no playfulteasing tone in those two words. _Your Majesty_ , said to her with complete sincerity and seriousness in absolute reference to her.

Naminé almost fell onto the couch as she moved to sit next to Kairi, the weight hitting her. "Whoa," she said. "You're right. I am in a tricky position, even moreso because I'm in love with Shina too."

Kairi blinked. "I'm sorry, what? You're in love with Shina too?"

"Yes," Naminé said, and she was completely surprised by how calm she was when she said it. "It's something of a three-way relationship, though I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I love them both."

"Coming to terms?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah. I knew, but I didn't _really_ know until Sora made me face it a few days ago the morning after we got back."

"Wait, hold up," Kairi said, placing a hand on her forehead. "Okay, so I knew about the threesome that happened forever ago that started this whole thing, but you mean to say that you also fell for Shina in that time, and that she also fell for you?"

"Well, yes," Naminé answered, her trepidation around this topic now coming back to her. "I knew it was a bad idea to talk about this. You're going to think I'm nuts for being bisexual while you're straight as an arrow."

"No, Naminé this is wonderful news," Kairi told her, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder and smiling at her. "All this time I've been worrying myself into a terrible state over you and your relationship with Roxas because you've been moody or surly about it whenever I ask; but if Shina hasn't actually stolen him away from you and the three of you are all together in a loving relationship then there couldn't be anything that makes me happier for you. It may be unorthodox and there will be people that won't necessarily approve of it, but you're the Queen. Unless there's some law passed by our ancestors concerning royal marriages that we're not aware of you should be perfectly in your right to be in such a relationship, or to at least dress it up as having Shina be a consort. Plus their marriage took place in Olomund, so I'm not even sure if Radiant Garden will recognize it. Oh wait. That means that Riku and Yuffie's marriage might not be legally recognized here either…"

Naminé smiled, suddenly feeling much better. She had never intended to come out to Kairi during this talk; it had just happened, but Kairi was simply waving it off as though Naminé's sexual orientation was completely superficial and was only fretting over how she would be able to happily enjoy her life with the life partners she'd chosen. Naminé startled Kairi out of her muttering by hugging her. "What brought this on?" Kairi asked with a startled laugh.

"For just being you," Naminé replied. "I'll do everything I can as Queen to help out you and Sora without compromising Radiant Garden, so please don't lose that kindness of yours." Kairi smiled and returned the hug her sister had placed her in.

"I promise."

-A-D-

"What did you do!?"

Sora ducked, dodging a wrench the blonde automail mechanic had thrown at him. "What? The automail is still fine, right?"

"Look at all these dents and scratches!" Winry exclaimed. "What in the worlds were you doing to this? You've beat it up more in a week than Edward does in a whole year, and that's not counting when he fights psycho rogue alchemists! And another thing!" Winry turned around, narrowing her eyes at him with a look that betrayed absolutely zero amusement. "What happened to you? How did you grow so much in a week that I already need to adjust this, and where did that beard come from? Is there some kind of science fiction beard growth ray on your planet?"

Sora grinned and rubbed the back of his head, letting Aiwemon answer for him. "Well, you might say that Sora here spent three years locked in another dimension, so he's gone through some stuff while you weren't looking."

"Locked in another dimension, huh?" Winry said flatly. "Alright, fine, don't tell me." She sighed. "Whatever, a customer is a customer. Stand still while I take some measurements so we'll know how much we need to modify it."

"Thanks, Winry," Sora answered with a smile as Winry got her tape measurer, and raised his arms up and out to his sides. Winry's attempts to get accurate measurements were hampered when Wispy decided to make her 'grand entrance', flying into the house and shooting up Winry's backside before rapidly coming back down in a helix manoeuvre that left the air elemental 'standing' next to Sora. She beamed triumphantly at the flustered automail mechanic.

"Wha-what is that?" Winry shouted, pointing at Wispy.

"Oh, that's Wispy, my familiar," Sora answered. "She's an air elemental, and I guess you could call her my own cute little magical servant." He smiled cheerily and patted Wispy on her head, to which she reacted positively.

"What's all this racket about?" Pinako asked, coming into the room with her pipe in one hand. She looked up at the Keyblade Master. "Oh, hello Sora. You're stopping by pretty frequently, aren't you?" Sora chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. Pinako sighed. "I'm not even going to ask what you did or why you're bigger than I remember you to be. Can you afford the repairs and modifications?"

Sora took a small pouch that jingled with the sound of clinking coins off of his bet and placed it on a table beside him. He untied the drawstring and poured the contents out, revealing a pile of gold coins. "Will this do?" Sora asked.

"Let me see," Pinako said, frowning at him and stepping forward. She picked up one of the coins and held it to the light, narrowing her eyes at the stag emblem that was stamped into one side of the coin and the face of an unfamiliar man on the other. "Never seen a coin like _this_ before," Pinako said, and then shrugged as she brought it to her mouth. "You people from other worlds all of a sudden. Thinking you can pay for anything with some-!"

Pinako stopped as her teeth bit down on the coin and removed it from her mouth, a stunned expression on her face. "This coin is solid gold," she said in disbelief.

"WHAT!?" Winry shouted. "S-solid gold? Are you sure it's not just plated, Granny?"

"Take a look at these coins, Winry," Pinako said, flipping her the coin she held. "That's no piece of nickel or tin with gold plating on it, it's a solid gold piece." She turned back to Sora. "Where did you get these?"

"We've been around," Aiwemon said lightly, and Wispy shrugged her shoulders and playfully giggled.

"They said that Sora was in another dimension for about three years," Winry said, examining the coins. "You're right, these _are_ real."

"It's just fifty gold," Sora muttered, embarrassed that they were making a big deal out of the currency he had become accustomed to over the past few years. "Most of them are gold stags of the kingdom of Tyrden, but a few are from other realms. They're all pure, though, so that's a whole pound of gold, and I do have more if fifty's not enough."

"No, this will be plenty, thank you Sora," Pinako said. "Even with State Alchemists running around everywhere gold is still very valuable, since the transmutation of gold is still a banned and highly criminal offence. These coins will certainly cover the repairs and modifications of your arm." She turned towards her granddaughter. "Winry, let's get that arm off of him and get to work."

"Right, Granny," Winry said, and gestured for Sora to sit down on the couch.

"I should let you know," Sora said, "that Kairi should be coming by later as well. She has something that she'd like to show you and wants your opinion on it."

Winry and Pinako looked at each other. "What would she want our opinion on?"

-A-D-

"I would like your opinion on this."

Kairi lifted the skirt of her dress and placed her right leg up on the table. The golden wolf's head kneecap with sapphire eyes embedded in the sockets gleamed at the pair of automail mechanics, who were momentarily breathless at the sight.

"What is _this_?" Pinako asked, her elderly fingers reaching out and touching the metal limb Kairi was showing them. Her digits scaled the leg from the top of Kairi's boot, above the golden kneecap, to the connecting plate at her hip. She hummed to herself as she examined it. "Well, it certainly looks flashier than automail needs to be, and it appears to be functional."

"Did this come out of Rush Valley?" Winry asked, stars in her eyes as she looked at the leg.

"No, uh, we had some friends of ours build it, based off of Sora's arm, after I…well, lost it," Kairi said. Winry and Pinako both looked up at Sora, who held up his one hand in a placating gesture, since his other was in the shop.

"Hey, they said that they put everything back _exactly_ the way it was after they took my arm apart so they could examine it and figure out how it worked," he said. "They were _very_ meticulous about it."

"There were stacks of notes at least three feet tall," Menelmon offered.

"Which was taller than some of _them_ were," Aiwemon added, sounding quite chipper about that.

"The stack of notes was bigger than you," Menelmon chided him.

"And so were the gnomes," Aiwemon reminded her.

Winry and Pinako simply peered at Sora with intense scrutiny. Winry in particular was looking at him with a deep level of suspicion. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't just hear you say that you let other mechanics take apart Rockbell automail and study it in detail. Because if you did say that, then I'll have to take measures for letting our trade secrets go to our competitors."

"No competitors! No trade wars!" Kairi reacted hastily, trying to diffuse the situation. "They're gnomes from Crafthall, a city on another world in another dimension that had never even heard of automail before. They are of absolutely no threat to you or your business, Winry. Promise."

The blonde still looked unhappy as she hummed and glared at the party before her grandmother sighed. "Well, what's done is done. If it was necessary for the making of this leg for Kairi, then I suppose there's no problem, though I would like to take this leg of yours and examine it. Is that alright with you, Kairi?"

"Uh, sure, that's fine with me," Kairi said. "But, uh, how would I get around in the meantime? Should I practice my hopping, have Sora carry me everywhere—"

"With _one_ arm?" he asked her, folding that one arm over his chest. Kairi blushed, flustered that she had made that gaffe.

"We have crutches," Winry said. "Or if you really prefer we've got some dummy legs lying around that we could attach to your plate, but none of them are precisely made to order and we'd have to make sure that the hook-up is compatible, since we weren't the ones who made your hip plate."

Sora looked like he was about to open his mouth and say something, but thought better of it and shut it. Sure, it _should_ be compatible since the gnomes made everything based off of his own, but Winry also had a point. The gnomes of Crafthall were not the Rockbells.

"So long as it's close in length it should be fine," Kairi sighed, "though I'm probably going to look funny walking if we've got a few inches difference. No laughing," she said, looking at Sora.

He grinned and shook his head. "Kairi, I can't make that promise. It'll be up to you to make your own silly walk as elegant as possible."

"But if it really _is_ silly, you can be sure we, as your friends, will let you know," Menelmon said. "Remember, we're not laughing _at_ you, we're laughing _with_ you."

Kairi rolled her eyes, already imagining how these next few days were going to pass. "Oh least I know that Sora can't give me a mocking slow clap when I trip and fall down the stairs."

"I'll find a way," he assured her, grinning. Kairi just rolled her eyes and let Winry lead her away in their search for a dummy leg for her to walk with.

It was a few hours later, while Kairi was still adjusting to the dummy leg that was roughly an inch and a half longer than her natural left leg as the sun started to set outside, that Sora finally asked Kairi the question that had been on his mind since she arrived: "How'd it go?" Kairi sighed at his probing, and flopped down onto the grass outside the Rockbell house. She was silent for a minute recalling the encounter she had just gone through in vivid detail, and trying to form words to recount it all to Sora adequately.

"We cried a lot," Kairi answered at last. "And they don't blame me, even though Selphie joined the fight because she wanted to help me. They're upset, of course, but their anger is at Maleficent for dragging all of us into this in the first place when she struck at our home on Felra." Kairi sniffed, feeling her chest tighten again. "They also told me… not to get hung up on revenge, but to keep going and never stop looking forward to a brighter future, where we can put all this fighting behind us."

Sora laid down on the grass with her, reaching out his right hand to touch her left. "I'm looking forward to that future, too," he said. "You, me, a comfy inn. Children running around being noisy. I brew mead and you daylight as a physician of some kind."

"And all the while we're secretly running an organization of Keyblade Wielders so that they can grow up in peace and the normal kind of quiet," Kairi added, smiling faintly. "It's not a bad dream, especially since you're in it."

"And all our friends come over to drink and party," Sora continued. "And we'll call it _TheAdjective Animal_ and we'll all share stories about our adventuring days, grossly embellishing them for the patrons and the children."

" _The Adjective Animal_?" Kairi giggled. "No way. We've been in enough of those places, even if Bill's wasn't called that. Why not have something with stars, because we go between them all the time?"

" _The Resting Star_ , then," Sora said quickly, as if he'd already had that name picked out, "since we'll have finally settled down to rest."

"And whenever somebody comments about how hard something they did was," Kairi continued, "we'll loudly complain that 'back in our day we had to do it harder, uphill, both ways, and we had to eat snails for breakfast'."

"We did eat snails for breakfast," Sora pointed out.

"And I will never forget that because it was the grossest thing you have ever made me eat."

"But I made them nice and fancy for you!"

"You can give them a quick frying in butter and then braise them in red wine with mushrooms and herbs, served with steamed and buttered vegetables and scrambled eggs in a skillet all you want, Sora, but it's not going to change the fact that you still made me eat snails."

"But they were good, right?" Kairi's silence was all the answer that he got, which meant an incredibly satisfying victory to Sora. "I knew you'd like them eventually. I just had to find a way."

"Just because you managed to make them taste good the one time does not mean that I don't still object to eating snails on principle!" Kairi spat back, annoyed. "Honestly, what were that warthog and meerkat thinking when they started having you slurp them?"

"Trying to get me to cheer up because I was being a broody brat," Sora replied. "And it worked. Gosh, how long ago was that in this timeline? Not even half a year, right?"

"I thought you deciding to befriend a gazelle and then go rushing in to save Simba's daughter from Heartless and Nobodies was what kicked you out of that funk. What was that gazelle's name again? Swara?"

"I'm surprised you remembered her name."

"Oh? _Her_ huh? Hmm…" Kairi stared at Sora.

"C'mon, Kairi, you know me," Sora said, chuckling. "It's not like that."

" _Stare..._ "

"Seriously, it's not like that!"

-A-D-

Meanwhile, back at the castle in Radiant Garden…

"I am afraid you will have to put your plans for leaving Radiant Garden to take the fight to Maleficent on hold for a short while, Your Majesty," Kensworth said as he looked at a message that had just been delivered to Naminé and the remaining members of the Fearless Wolves as they ate dinner.

"Really?" Naminé asked. "What for?"

"It appears as though our world, the whole world of Aurus, I mean, has recovered since Master Sora freed Radiant Garden from Maleficent."

"What do you mean?" Naminé queried. "I mean, I've heard that there were other regions of the world and everything, but we're still rebuilding and expanding again here."

"True, however, Radiant Garden and the surrounding regions were the hardest hit when Maleficent took over," Kensworth answered. "We have just received a letter from a kingdom in the far south that has recovered, and they used to be quite an important ally of Radiant Garden in the past. It's a formal invitation to attend the coronation of Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

-A-D-

 _* Chapter 50 of_ Light's Growth _is where they first heard of this._

 _God, I hated this chapter. Partially because I just didn't like where I was going with it. Normally I'm fine with filler chapters, you guys all know that with the amount of fillery fluff I've put into this thing, but this one just killed me._

 _Anyway, new adventures await in the upcoming chapters, and please don't ask me when they will be out because I honestly don't know. Hopefully soon, but likely not before I head off to the States for RTX in just over 2 weeks._

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


	8. Arendelle I

_Alright, new chapter. Here we go, off to someplace new(ish) to do new things!_

 _Also, although it has been confirmed that_ Tangled _,_ Frozen _,and_ Tarzan _, all take place in the same world (despite_ Tarzan _being Edgar Rice Burroughs and already_ having _a backstory), due to Sora having gone to Deep Jungle in KH1, only_ Tangled _and_ Frozen _also exist on the same world as Radiant Garden._

 _Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based piece of fiction. Kingdom Hearts and Frozen are owned by Disney and Square-Enix. Please support the official release._

-A-D-

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter Eight: Arendelle I

 _1915hrs, Arendelle Time,_

 _Thursday, December 18, 1671 Aurus (Radiant Garden) Reckoning_

 _Arendelle Harbour, Arendelle, Aurus_

Naminé stepped off the ship they had taken to get to the kingdom of Arendelle to some, but not a great amount, of fanfare. Radiant Garden was a well-known and influential kingdom in the past, being a bastion of science and research lightyears ahead of much of the rest of the world during the days of Kairi's father's rule with Ansem the Wise heading their researchers, and afterwards when the aforementioned was at the helm. Since darkness took hold over a decade ago, however, Radiant Garden's prominence in the world had waned considerably. The same held true for Arendelle, Naminé learned. Though Arendelle wasn't affected by the Heartless and Maleficent like Radiant Garden was, for reasons unknown the kingdom had closed its embassies and ejected all diplomats in and around the castle. Though the king and queen still maintained relations, state visits were cancelled and visiting delegations had to meet away from the castle to attend meetings, conferences, or conclude other business with the monarchs and their ministers. Though the information they had in Radiant Garden was limited, apparently even those ceased when the king and queen perished at sea when their ship sank en route to another country during the time of Maleficent. That had made their eldest child, their daughter Elsa, the Queen of Arendelle, and she had not been seen in public for many years.

Now, however, the long awaited coronation was to be held, and the castle's gates were to be flung open in celebration for all to come and witness the official crowning of their monarch whom had come of age. Many dignitaries from Arendelle's allies and trading partners had been invited to come from far and wide across the world, including Radiant Garden.

"Hm," Roxas said, coming down the ramp several steps behind Naminé. "I would have thought that there would have been more people here to see us arrive."

"Radiant Garden is just getting back on its feet itself and Arendelle has undergone a period of relative diplomatic isolation," Agatha Quin said as she followed a step behind him. "It's not surprising that our delegation, even with Queen Naminé, wouldn't attract much of a crowd. Naminé is even more of an unknown out here than Queen Elsa is to us. We'd at least heard of Princess, and now Queen, Elsa in passing, but Naminé is Kairi's hitherto unknown 'twin' sister. Arendelle would likely have been expecting her to show up, which may cause some confusion for us."

"Then we must tread lightly and dispel it as calmly as possible," Melbil said, following the queen's handmaiden. Behind her were two members of the Royal Guard who had come along as escort, even though Naminé, Roxas, and Melbil were likely to not require it. Despite her having a Keyblade and having years of adventuring experience, plus being accompanied by others with the same, her new advisors in Radiant Garden still insisted that they could not let the new Queen travel to a different country 'unprotected'. Mainly it was for diplomatic reasons for keeping up appearances, and the two royal guards accompanying knew it. They had also wanted to appoint a political attaché to the mission as well, but were overruled.

A portly man was standing at the base of the gangway next to the carpet upon which Naminé was to tread. He was dressed in an official-looking green waistcoat, brown vest and black pants, and his balding red hair was immaculately groomed. "Queen Naminé," he greeted with a short bow as she stepped down onto the carpet, "welcome to Arendelle."

"Thank you," Naminé replied, extending her right hand towards him. The retainer took her hand and lightly kissed her knuckles before letting go.

"My name is Kai," he said, beginning to walk with Naminé as the rest of her party came down the gangway, "overseer of Arendelle castle. Please, your majesty, allow me to escort you and your delegation to the guest house we have prepared for you."

"We are not staying in the castle?" Naminé asked, curious.

"Not presently, your majesty," Kai replied. "The castle has been closed and off-limits to the public and visiting dignitaries for years following a certain incident. The gates are being opened tomorrow for the coronation of Queen Elsa, but it is only for tomorrow."

"That is a shame," Naminé stated. "Then I suppose I will have to make the most of my time tomorrow to rekindle good relations between our two countries, Queen to Queen."

"An excellent idea, ma'am," Kai answered, showing her a bright smile. "It has been too long since Arendelle has been visited by a representative of Radiant Garden's royal family, and to be honest, yours is a name that I haven't heard before."

"I am not surprised," Naminé chuckled. "How long have you served Arendelle, Kai?"

"Many years now, ma'am," he answered. "I served in the castle for King Agnarr before Queen Elsa and her sister, Princess Anna, were even born. I recall hearing news of Prince Raifeor and Princess Kairi's births, but not of your own."

Naminé grimaced slightly as she replied. "My existence is somewhat… irregular for traditional circles. Our easiest to understand explanation is that we're long-lost twins and to leave it at that." She turned towards him. "We will have to host a state visit for Queen Elsa after this, you know; as a thank you for the invitation to attend her coronation."

"I am sure the Queen would be delighted, your majesty," Kai replied. "We will do our utmost to ensure she attends. I do caution you, however, that the Queen may be indisposed, but Princess Anna would undoubtedly be willing to travel to Radiant Garden."

"Well, we shall see," Naminé answered. "Regardless, I would still like to meet the royal sisters first before extending our invitation. Once I have the date for my own coronation, I would like to invite them to attend that as well."

"Have you not been crowned yet, your majesty?" Kai enquired, seeming surprised. Naminé shook her head.

"Not yet, no. It was only recently that my sister, Princess Kairi, stepped down and abdicated her claim to the throne. The responsibilities for the crown then passed on to me not even two weeks ago. This is my first official visit to a foreign nation, so I hope to do some good."

"I have every confidence that you will do fine, ma'am," Kai spoke comfortingly. "It's only for one day, and mostly one of celebration. There aren't any specific bilateral meetings on the agenda."

"I see." Naminé nodded her head at Kai. "Well, then, we shall have to make the most of our stay."

-A-D-

"Nice place," Roxas said, looking out through the window of the hallway he was in. Arendelle's castle loomed in front of him. "Certainly looks more like a palatial castle and less like a fortress from the outside."

"Aye, completely… except for it sitting alone on a rock, behind high walls, surrounded by water, and with only two narrow points of entry." Melbil said in a chuckle. "Are ye sure we don't need to get your eyes examined?"

"I meant the keep, Melbil," Roxas groaned. "Yes, the curtain walls around the island it's built on and harbour defences are certainly a bit imposing and adequate for protecting the fjord, but that keep's a palatial residence, not a fort."

"Aye, on that I can see what ye mean; and we should have brought Riku along," Melbil agreed. "He's been so into architecture and engineering with my people that I imagine he'd have a few choice words for what kind o' design choices he'd have made."

"From a dwarf's perspective, of course," Roxas chuckled.

"Bah! Well o' course," Melbil answered, feigning incredulous, "like a human's perspective means anything when it comes to working stone."

"Have you chosen your outfits for tomorrow yet?" Naminé asked the two, busy striding between rooms.

"Oh do we get to choose those?" Roxas asked, a slight bit of derision. "I would have figured that Agatha was going to dress us up too, given the amount of time she spent drilling us on protocol and tradition during the trip; and since she laid out your outfit before we arrived."

"She's just being a good handmaiden," Naminé said in rebuttal, sticking her head out to defend the young woman who, coincidentally, they were now of equivalent age to. "She's been working hard researching this stuff and trying to live up to the job I've given her. Since this was sprung on us at the last minute, there wasn't a lot of time to plan anyway."

"I think she's right, Roxas," Melbil said. "I think the only one who was given a packing list was Naminé. We're on our own for dressing ourselves."

"And even so," Naminé's voice drifted to them from the adjacent room, "none of this is being broadcast on a spherevision set anyway, since Radiant Garden is the only kingdom with that kind of technology, and I don't think anybody is going to report on what anybody is wearing apart from Queen Elsa's state of dress. Feel free to dress fancy. You used to like suits. Wear a zoot suit if you're feeling jazzy."

"I do look good in a suit," Roxas mused, stroking his goatee. "But I also like the clothes we got in Olomund. Oh this is going to be a day in and of itself."

"That's why I'd asked if you'd picked it out already!" Though loud, Naminé's voice was really little more than an amused giggle.

"Should we worry about armour?" Melbil asked Roxas. "We want to look our best, and personally I like the look of being in armour more than fancy gowns."

"The dress code calls for no weapons," Agatha reminded them, striding out of the room Naminé had just entered and into the room she had previously been in, "though since you have Keyblades, that's not really something that you can usually be cut off from in the first place."

"Not usually, no," Roxas said, and fiddled with the bangle on his wrist. Merlin had made sure to remind them that anaemia would cause the loss of their magical powers – something that he had almost completely forgotten about since returning – including the summoning of their Keyblades. Wearing these devices on their wrists would help allay those effects and keep their powers at full strength.

At least, they knew that to be the case when it came to the magic they utilized from the Realm of Light. They had not had time to sufficiently test whether the structured methods of using arcane magic in the style of the wizards and sorcerers of Olomund would be affected in the same way, Considering all that they had been through in those three years, the likelihood was negligible.

"What about something like what Sora, Kairi, Naminé, and Shiki wore at the victory banquet?" Melbil asked, looking at the two open doorways on either side of them. "A mix of formal wear and armour? Ye think that'd be acceptable?"

"Why do you want to wear armour so much?" Agatha asked, striding back into the other room with a selection of jewellery on a pillow.

"Ah don't like spilling ale on pretty fabrics," Melbil replied honestly. "It spills on armour or runs down into an undershirt an' who cares? It jus' flows and drips down tah the floor or soaks into somethin' nobody can see. Wear a fancy gown and slop? Everyone can see it."

"You didn't seem to mind for the victory feast back in Radiant Garden," Roxas said. Melbil waved him off.

"Tha' was a feastin' n' drinkin' party celebrating strength of arms and heroic deeds," she stated. "Rousy rabble, sloppy table manners, bawdy songs, travelling hands, teasing flesh, an' tearing hunks o' boar meat right off the bone with yer teeth are perfectly acceptable in such a setting. This? _This_ is a fancy get-together of statesmen and emissaries to crown a new monarch. They are clearly completely different kinds of events and need to be treated as such."

"If that's the case, why don't you just wear a dress and try not to slop ale on yourself?" Roxas asked with a smirk. Melbil gasped.

"Are ye asking a dwarf princess to act more like a princess and less like a dwarf?"

"Just for," Roxas held out a single finger and made a pouting face, " _one_ day?"

"You managed it well enough during our town hall," Naminé's voice reminded her. "You looked very fetching in that tunic. Oh, yes, this one. Thanks, Agatha."

"Exactly!" Melbil almost crowed. "Tunic! Ah was not wearing a _dress_!" Roxas rolled his eyes. "Well? What about you, then? Tunic? Cloak? Jacket? Suit? Armour? Or are ye just going to come on down shirtless in a smock because ye've been beating iron all night an' didn't have time tah take a bath and get dressed?"

"Ugh," Roxas groaned with a grimace, and finally turned aside. "Guess I'll go and come up with an outfit for the morning, then. Gods, I did not think that just _attending_ a coronation was going to be a pain."

"Yeah? Well just imagine how bad it's going to be when _I'm_ the one getting crowned," Naminé added, throwing in that last little barb that struck Roxas right in the brain. He was confident that when that time came, _he_ was going to be asked to help plan it in some capacity.

"Of course it's going to be a pain!" Agatha snapped in frustration. "No matter what we wear we are going to be out of style! You saw Kai. That style of dress was popular in Radiant Garden about two hundred years ago. The clothes you guys liked wearing in Olomund were in vogue six hundred years ago. No matter what we wear, we are going to look odd and out of place."

"So it doesn't matter what I wear? Great! I'll go whip something up that I like, then," Roxas announced, and promptly left their company, determined to pick out a wardrobe that would have him looking cool.

-A-D-

 _0830hrs, Arendelle Time  
Friday, December 19, 1671 Aurus (Radiant Garden) Reckoning_

The morning had dawned bright and clear, and much, much earlier than anyone in the party were currently used to, due to Radiant Garden's current winter season. Naminé, Roxas, Agatha, Melbil, and the two Royal Guards Crysta Jenkins and Marie Namis – who seemed to be getting rather a lot of time together with the royals despite being the rawest of recruits in their small unit – walked casually through the city from the guest house they were put in, taking in the revelry of the entire affair. It looked like the entire city had gotten the day off from work, more or less, in order to celebrate their Queen coming of age and being officially coronated as their ruling monarch.

However festive it was, there were a few children that were vocally opposed to wearing their stuffy best clothes in summer weather just because Queen Elsa was going to be crowned that day.

The heat did not seem to bother Naminé's group, however. Even though they were dressed in clothes that many would see as uncomfortably warm for the weather, Naminé (archmage as she now was) had solved all of that prior to leaving the guest house with a simple spell that would protect them from the heat. It was well that she did, or else some of them certainly would already have been sweating.

Roxas had dressed himself in a very fine white tunic edged in bright yellow overtop a plum-coloured doublet and black trousers over deliberately contrasting bright white shiny leather boots. His waist belt was black leather with a gleaming silver buckle, and his tunic belt had been dyed white. Soft white linen gloves were on his hands and around his back was a brilliant white cloak, bordered in grey and silver with a black stylized wolf's head in the centre. Slyly hidden by the folds of his cloak and the fabric of his tunic was a small bag of holding, just in case he needed anything he had placed within.

Melbil had met herself halfway between the very nice way she had dressed herself for their informal town hall session and the armour she was more comfortable in wearing. She had put on a fine burgundy tunic with silver threads forming an aesthetic 'mountain inspired' design overtop a thin shirt of mail that barely extended past her waist. Melbil's legs were veiled by a long dark crimson skirt with her feet nestled in comfy dark brown leather slippers. Her long dark red hair was pulled back into a tail and ended with a bun just the same as she had done for their town hall, wrapping it up in bands of gold and emerald while wearing her golden circlet upon her head. As stipulated she did not bear her Keyblade or bring any other weapon on her, but like Roxas her back was draped in her own white cloak of the Fearless Wolves, with hers bordered in the gold and platinum of Crafthall's wealth.

Agatha had tried to reign herself in so as not to attempt to outshine any of her lady Naminé's accompaniment, but the blonde was still in a stylish full-length silver-grey ballroom gown with a tight bodice decorated with tiny rhinestones that formed a pattern of stars around her sides and back. Draped around her shoulders was a thin transparent periwinkle blue shawl. A pearl necklace was on her neck, and though she had debated for many minutes between wearing a strapless gown or a normal one, she'd eventually settled on the latter, as the former she reasoned would have been too daring for such an auspicious occasion.

Though forbidden from carrying weapons, the two female Royal Guards of Marie Namis and Crysta Jenkins proudly strutted in their finest. Upon consultation with their queen and her handmaiden, they had refrained from wearing armour for the day, as they were not Arendelle's guards and so did not need to fully look the part of a soldier. Their uniform was fresh and new, Kairi and Naminé having worked together with Captain Beagle during their four days together in the castle before they parted ways to finally resolve the dispute of the revolving uniforms and personal symbols they'd been putting the royal guard through. Upon the advice of their captain, the uniform Jenkins and Namis were currently wearing was based upon the old uniform the guard had worn before it had been annihilated when their father, mother, and elder brother had been assassinated. They wore matching silver long-sleeved tunics, black trousers, black boots, and red cloaks. Their cloaks were fastened at the neck with a silver broach in the shape of the profile of a bear's head facing left with two forward-pointing horns. Their silver tunics had thick black borders around the cuffs, hem, and v-shaped neckline that plunged a decimetre below the base of the neck, decorated with red and gold embroidery. The tunic belts around their waists to keep them tight to their bodies were brown and studded with brass, with a large oval silver buckle in the centre engraved with the whole profile of the horned bear flanked by a pair of flowered damask roses, and their black trouser belts had a simple but bright brass buckle. Their cloaks bore no device, but they were edged in the same fine embroidery as their tunics. The two guards were unused to the uniform and thought it seemed antiquated by their modern sensibilities, but they were proud to dress in it and stand in the mighty company of their queen.

Lastly of all, the uncrowned Queen of Radiant Garden had been dressed in a gown with a snow white bodice and a pleated skirt that transitioned into forest green and royal purple in alternating colours along the six pleats. Yellow threads were embroidered into the bodice in the shape of a crocus flower. A thin circlet wrought with silver and sapphires rested on her head above parted bangs, and around her neck a necklace of gold and sapphires lay draped against the bodice of her sleeved gown. Draped across her back was a bright yellow cloak with white ermine trim, edged along the outer base in a pattern of roses, and fastened at the neck with a broach in the shape of a round platinum shield with floral etchings along its outer edge. Unseen to all was her own small bag of holding, hidden behind her cloak, and the four wands she had strapped to her thighs by the white garters she wore beneath.

In honour of visiting Arendelle for their new Queen's coronation, it was decided to have Naminé dress in a gown with their crest and colours of green, purple, and yellow while also retaining her own house's emblem of the platinum round shield.

The six of them strode through town towards the bridge leading to the castle's gates, joining the throng of citizens and arriving dignitaries awaiting them to be thrown open for the first time in thirteen years. Many eyes were cast their way, and the people gave Naminé's party a respectful berth.

"At least the ship we took to get here did not look too different," Agatha said, looking out towards the docks and fjord where wooden sailing ships with tall masts and great white sails were arriving. Their ship, currently docked in the harbour, was smaller than many of those currently arriving, but its outer appearance matched those of the ships sailing in, hiding the powered propulsion system and screws that were built into the bowels of the ship and placed beneath its underbelly.

"Agatha, relax," Naminé said. "There's nothing to worry about."

"…mysterious trading partner. Open up your gates and let me exploit your riches," a short, elderly gentleman in stately garb was muttering nearby. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Nothing to worry about…" Roxas reiterated. "So long as that guy doesn't come to Radiant Garden we're fine."

"Honestly I feel that what ye have in Radiant Garden'd send him to his grave," Melbil muttered. "Might be too much for his heart to take."

There were some gasps behind them, causing a few head turns to see two men carrying a massive yellow cake. "Ah, Eugene! Eugene look at that cake! It's massive!" a young woman with short brown hair and wearing a pink dress said excitedly.

"Yeah," the handsome man who was with her, Eugene, said, stroking his chin. "It's almost as big as the one your parents had made for our wedding."

"Oh don't exaggerate, Eugene," the woman replied. "If ours really was that big I wouldn't be this excited."

"I don't know, Princess Rapunzel," Eugene answered her. "I think the return of their only child, and the princess at that, after eighteen years is a bit more of a festive occasion to Corona than opening the castle gates for the first time in thirteen years and crowning the new monarch should be for Arendelle."

The names the man spoke caught Naminé's attention. Princess Rapunzel? Corona? They sparked her memory from the voyage. Arendelle was not the only kingdom Naminé had been given a crash course on during their trip. Hands together, her polished nails painted gold, Naminé approached the couple. "Pardon me," she said, drawing their attention away from the giant cake, "but was I correct in hearing that you are Princess Rapunzel of Corona?"

"Yes, I am," the brown-haired young woman answered. "And yourself?"

"Queen Naminé, of Radiant Garden," Naminé introduced herself.

Rapunzel and Eugene politely and respectfully bowed. "A pleasure to meet you, your majesty," Rapunzel said.

"The pleasure is mine, I assure you, your highness," Naminé replied, respectfully nodding her head in acknowledgement. "Forgive my forwardness, but I have no desire to stand on ceremony while we both wait in a queue. You may simply call me Naminé, if you wish."

"I would be honoured to, ma'a - I mean Naminé," Rapunzel replied, smiling. "In that case, you may call me by my name as well. Oh! Forgive me, I almost forgot! This is my husband, Eugene." Rapunzel introduced the man standing next to her, and he casually waved his hand.

"Hi," he said. "It's nice to meet you, Naminé, and, if I may, you look absolutely stunning this morning."

"Why thank you, Eugene. You clean up nicely, yourself, as does my escort, Sir Roxas." Naminé motioned for Roxas to step forward and he did so. He gave Rapunzel and Eugene a polite bow that was received and returned.

"They let you get away with hair like that?" Eugene asked, drawing attention to Roxas' spiked hairstyle. "Things must be pretty laid back in Radiant Garden." Roxas chuckled.

"Unfortunately not at the moment," Naminé answered, "but this is not really the time or place to discuss such matters." Rapunzel nodded and looked about to say something else, but then the gates opened up, and a young woman with braided ginger hair wearing a green dress rushed out, singing to her heart's content as she went in the opposite direction of the waiting throng, heading _out_ of the castle when everyone else wanted _in_.

"Who is that?" Roxas asked, glancing at her as she hopped onto the railing along the bridge and twirled around a streetlamp.

"I think that would be Princess Anna, younger sister to the Queen," Rapunzel said.

"So _that's_ Princess Anna," Melbil muttered. She leaned towards Roxas. "Ye think she's gone a bit stir crazy, cooped up in a castle for a decade?"

" _...for the first time in forever…_ "

Roxas bit his lip to stifle an inappropriate laugh before nodding his head at his dwarf companion. "Yes, I would say she has a little bit of castle fever." He looked to Naminé. "Shall we go in, Naminé?"

Naminé looked at him and smiled at the hand Roxas was offering her. "Yes, we shall," she answered, taking it and moving forward with the procession into the castle courtyard.

-A-D-

Naminé got chills as she sat in the church in the front row, watching the coronation ceremony held before a small throng of visiting dignitaries, nobles, and royals. While every pew was full, there could scarcely have been more than six score within this chapel on the castle grounds. Surely an occasion such as this should have been held within a magnificent cathedral, full of pomp and ceremony attended by hundreds of witnesses to the start of the reign of the new Queen. Naminé had no illusions as to what the size of her own coronation would end up being, or to where it would take place, or who would be the one to place the crown upon her head, like the cardinal bishop clothed in red placing the gold tiara of the office upon Elsa's braided blonde head. Was her crown, the crown of Radiant Garden, a crown of the Divine Right of Kings like Arendelle's; a station granted through bloodline by divine providence of the gods; or was it the hereditary position of the family of a once charismatic, talented warlord who was able to bind his peoples together and forge his kingdom through great deeds of ink, iron, and blood?

These thoughts and more swirled in Naminé's mind through the singing of the choir on the balcony above the dais upon which Elsa, Anna, and the bishop stood. Even so, she was able to see the stiffening of Elsa and her unease as she removed her turquoise gloves and claimed the orb and scepter of Arendelle in her left and right hand. They all rose, and Naminé, seeing the unease and nerves on Elsa's face from this close distance, gulped, thinking about when it would be her turn. She almost gasped as something brushed her right hand, only to see Roxas stoically looking at the new queen they had come to see. Naminé placed her hand in his, and he gave it a tight, reassuring squeeze.

"…Queen Elsa, of Arendelle," pronounced the bishop.

"Queen Elsa, of Arendelle," Naminé and Roxas echoed back as the newly coronated queen placed the golden holy relics back upon the pillow held by the bishop and replaced her gloves upon her hands. Naminé joined her hands in the joyous celebratory clapping, and for the first time she saw a small, pleased, and relieved smile grace Elsa's face.

-A-D-

The queen and princess left the chapel first, and they headed through the castle, presumably to stand upon a balcony and wave at the crowd below as the commons received the queen. That left those inside the chapel alone and suddenly without much direction, until Kai returned and ushered them all into a grand dining room for their luncheon, which was reserved, refined, and filled with conversation as the guests and dignitaries got to know new faces and greet old acquaintances. Though the queen and princess were not present, that did not prevent the honoured guests from enjoying themselves either during the luncheon or afterwards when they were moved into the ballroom for drinks and hors d'oeuvres to sustain them before dinner. Naminé and Roxas spent a fair amount of time with Princess Rapunzel and her husband Eugene from Corona, but they also managed to introduce themselves to a fair number of the other guests for the coronation. There were ambassadors from other kingdoms and empires of the continents, to which Naminé tried to gather as much information straight from the horse's mouth as possible, being the new kid on the block to foreign policy and diplomatic affairs. It wouldn't do to start mixing up Dalmasca with Weselton or Archadia with Soxland. Fortunately, all she became acquaintance to were kind and fair, answering her questions honestly and treating her ignorance with good enough humour to educate her in all the ways their own lands were great without open hostility or prejudice. To many they were just glad that Radiant Garden was on a resurgence after the collapse of the country seemingly overnight a decade previous.

They were brought back to the ballroom after dinner, still having not had the opportunity to see the queen or princess since the coronation, with many privately whispering and wondering if they would see them at all before the party ended and the gates were closed. In the meantime, Naminé amused herself, watching the dances everyone seemed to know or dancing with Roxas and other dignitaries as the chances came. Some, like Roxas and Eugene, were fine dance partners; however others, like the elderly Duke of Weselton or Baron Hoffsteid of Varsweig, were not quite so good and left her toes wanting.

It was as she stood to the side, sipping on a glass of wine next to Melbil and Agatha with Jenkins and Namis close-by, watching Roxas chat with Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, Prince Eugene of Corona, and the Earl Jacob Gladsmith of Salsbury; that the music and latest dance ceased and silver trumpets were sounded. Kai stood at the head of the ballroom by the throne that had been placed in the room but had sat empty all day, and proclaimed, "Queen Elsa, of Arendelle!" Naminé carefully clapped politely while maintaining her hold on her wine glass as Elsa entered from an alcove to the right, still wearing the same dress and cape as she had at her coronation, but personally looking more regal and stately. The nerves that had been apparent while in the chapel were completely gone. "Princess Anna, of Arendelle!" Kai announced, and Anna emerged from the alcove to the left, took a few steps, and shyly waved at everyone until Kai gently but firmly took hold of her and had her stand beside her sister.

"A little tense, don't you think?" Melbil asked Naminé, the two of them casually observing the royal sisters as they stood together.

"Well it has been a long day," Naminé said. "Maybe they're just ti—oh there we go. There's the sisterly bond," Naminé smiled as she witnessed the queen and princess look at each other and giggle before the short elderly gentleman she had first seen on the bridge and later been introduced to as ruler of the Dukedom of Weselton approached the royal sisters.

"I think I'll go and collect Roxas," Agatha said. "Now that the Duke of Weselton has approached Queen Elsa, we should have you and Roxas introduce yourselves to the queen."

"Yes, thank you, Agatha," Naminé said, and quickly finished her wine before swiping a small chocolate dessert.

"How many of those are ye going to have?" Melbil asked with a chuckle. Naminé looked at her with mock affront.

"This is _chocolate_ , Melbil, _chocolate_. I haven't eaten this in three years and it's taking all of my willpower not to just stand at the chocolate fondue fountain over there and dip everything I can get my hands on in it and gorge myself until I'm a fat pig." Her guards giggled while Melbil raised an eyebrow at the response she'd been given.

"Well, if you _insist_ ," she stated, and grabbed one of the desserts herself. She rolled it around in her fingers, examining the chocolate dust that was nearly the same colour as her burnt umber skin, before popping it into her mouth.

The dwarf princess' face melted in pure joy. For such a rich kingdom under the volcano, Naminé was surprised that Melbil had never encountered something like chocolate in Olomund. She gasped. "Melbil, does chocolate… not _exist_ in Olomund?"

"If it does, I've never heard of it," Melbil murmured, tears in her eyes while her hands moved to take another chocolate. A moment later saw Agatha returning with Roxas, and Naminé immediately grabbed him by the collar.

"Roxas!" she almost shouted in excitement. "We are buying a cacao plantation, and we are going to have the Fearless Wolves get into the chocolate business. We'll make so much we'll practically be minting our own coin!"

"Chocolate coins?" Roxas asked, raising his eyebrow and chuckling.

" _Real_ gold," Naminé insisted. "They. Don't. Have. Chocolate. Complete monopoly. Forget starting the first bank and the giant cave spider silk farm; this will make us mountains of gold."

Roxas' eyes flashed like gold stags and he started stroking his goatee. "Monopoly, you say? I like the sound of that. It's one thing when other people start setting up banks and spring competition on us, but they can't really do much if we have the only source of bean. Would you like to talk to the boss or shall I, since this one involves food?"

"I don't think my lord's really a chocolatier but I'll ask him what he thinks," Naminé said. She giggled. "You know, we're supposed to be an adventuring company, making our fortunes through fighting and treasure hunting. Recently we've been acting more like a business instead. Anyway, shall we go and meet with the queen?" Naminé offered her hand to Roxas, and the two moved towards Kai, standing between the guests and the queen.

He noticed them and nodded his head. "I'll introduce you, ma'am," he said quietly to Naminé before turning to his liege. "Queen Naminé and Sir Roxas, of Radiant Garden, your majesty."

"Your Majesty," Naminé said, bowing her head, while Roxas bowed at his waist, "it is an honour and a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, Queen Naminé," Elsa said, nodding her own head. "I am glad to see representatives of Radiant Garden here. It has been far too long since any from your country have set foot in Arendelle, and it warms my heart that it was seen fit to send the queen to attend another's coronation."

"I wouldn't have had it any other way," Naminé answered. "For my first visit to a foreign country to be to attend such a happy and momentous celebration, it was truly an honour to attend."

"First visit?" Elsa asked.

"Yes," Naminé said. "I have only recently come to the throne myself. My sister, Kairi, abdicated her position, leaving me to bear the burden and responsibility of the crown, and that was barely more than a week ago. I hope that Radiant Garden and Arendelle can rekindle our past relationship of mutual friendship, and that this is the first of many meetings between us to advance it."

"Me too," Elsa replied, smiling at Naminé's enthusiasm. Her smile slowly turned sad, and her eyes looked away. "Though I don't know how many times we will meet like this."

"Why not?" Naminé said. "I know that my own schedule will be quite busy in the foreseeable future as Radiant Garden deals with the… unfortunate aftermath of our previous administration, but the castle is open now. Surely we can schedule formal meetings between our—"

"Unfortunately the castle is not open," Elsa said, though she seemed bitter to say it. "The gates will be closed again starting tomorrow. I fear that this may be our first, and only, meeting, Queen Naminé."

Naminé winced, surprised at the sudden declaration of how the castle's gates will be closed. "I… I see," she said. "Well, your majesty, when the time comes for my own coronation I will send an invitation, and I do hope that you consider attending."

"I certainly will; and though I may find myself indisposed at the time, I am positive that my sister Anna would love to travel," Elsa said, and the smile returned at the mention of her sister. "Speaking of my sister, you wouldn't happen to know of any eligible bachelors in Radiant Garden, would you? I think Anna could do with meeting someone nice, like this handsome fellow next to you. Sir Roxas, was it?"

"Yes, your majesty," Roxas said, nodding his head. "I'll have to disappoint the princess, though, as I am already happily in a relationship. I am sure that we could round up a few good men, though, to test the waters. And what of yourself?"

"Me?" Elsa asked.

"Yes," Naminé pressed. "You seem interested in getting your younger sister into a relationship, but as I understand it you are also single. Now, I may be only a few years younger than yourself, but do you not feel that you should also be seeking companionship?" Naminé placed her hand on Roxas' and looked up at him. "Being without someone and their love can be quite lonely."

"I assure you that I am fine," Elsa said, sounding like she was trying to humour them. "I have a few problems that I'm sure no man would put up with."

"You'll find we can put up with a lot for the right women," Roxas said, grinning. Naminé heard him and tried not to react, but she felt her heart pound. Even though she knew it already, it was still sending her heart into a tizzy of both embarrassment and joy. Roxas hadn't said "woman", singular; he had said "women", plural. Elsa may have been able to attribute it to just hearing wrong or a slip of his tongue, but to the younger blonde royal it meant something else entirely.

There was room in his heart for one more beyond Shina, and _she_ was that one.

"I mean it. The bed always gets so cold when I get into it that no amount of blankets will help."

"I know just the guy who can warm it up," Roxas said, cracking a grin. "I've gotta warn you, his attitude is just as flashy as his hair."

"Roxas!" Naminé laughed. "You can't seriously be considering sending _Lea_ to Arendelle to woo Queen Elsa."

"And who is this… Lea?" Elsa asked.

"Let's just say he has a fiery personality," Roxas answered, and Naminé groaned at his bad joke.

"If I may ask, Queen Elsa, what brought on asking about a suitor for Princess Anna?" Naminé inquired. "I suppose she is at that age to be on the lookout for a good match for her, but this seems all too abrupt. You just opened the gates and have confided that you're going to be closing them again after this evening has passed. How's she even supposed to meet with any potential spouses we find?"

"Anna isn't meant to be locked up in this castle here with me," Elsa softly intoned, slightly shaking her head. "She's meant to be out there, in the sun, dancing in garden parties and whiling the hours away in the company of others. A suitor from another country, outside of Arendelle, would be just the ticket Anna needs to live her life happy and free from these cold stone walls."

"So you're just going to marry her off, then?" Roxas asked.

"Heavens, no!" Elsa said, affronted that Roxas would even float the idea in front of her. "I couldn't live with myself if I let Anna go just because she swooned at the first man who flashed her a charming smile. She wouldn't know the man and neither would I, and she'd hate me if I simply picked a man out for her and told her to marry him. Marriage isn't something that can be decided in an instant, even if sometimes it is only politics."

Naminé smiled at her senior, glad that she was still taking the thought of this seriously, even if it did seem a bit odd that at their first formal function in what seemed like forever Elsa was already thinking of finding a partner for her sister. "I am sure that Princess Anna will have plenty of time to find a good match," Naminé assured her. "Why not send Anna on a world tour in your behalf? It would get her out of the castle, as you've said you wish for her to do, and I'm sure many nations would be delighted to host her for some time as she travels. I can speak for Radiant Garden that we would be happy to."

"That is certainly an idea," Elsa replied, putting a hand to her chin in thought. "A world tour, hmm… I'll need to think about. Thank you for the suggestion, your majesty."

"Of course, ma'am," Naminé said, bowing politely before turning to her date. "Roxas, I believe that we have taken up enough of Queen Elsa's time," Naminé said, and glanced back behind her for a moment. "I hope we may speak again later this evening, your majesty."

"Another time, then," Elsa replied. "Enjoy the party."

"We will," Naminé said, guiding Roxas away and to the dance floor. "You don't have to look so smug."

"What? This is the fourth royal who's called me handsome," Roxas chuckled. "I can't help it if noblewomen turn me into a playboy."

"You can and you should," Naminé giggled. "I don't need to be carrying around some jiggilo arm candy. Now then, dance some more with me. I've had enough business for one day; it's time for fun."

-A-D-

The evening would have ended perfectly, in Naminé's eyes, if she and Roxas had been able to dance it away and chat pleasantly with the other guests and occasionally Queen Elsa for the remainder of the night until they retired to the guest house and fell into the same bed for a night of passion. However, that perfect ending was denied to Naminé and her libido, as but an hour after they had departed from their initial meeting with Elsa, both Elsa and Princess Anna got into a heated argument about how the castle would be closed off again, leaving the princess isolated from the world and the castle's halls dark and empty once more.

The argument reached a climax as Elsa neared the door, one of her gloves removed and in her sister's grasp as Anna demanded answers from Elsa for why she had to be so isolated from human contact; why was Elsa so afraid of forging bonds with others. "I said, ENOUGH!" Elsa shouted, whirling around to face her sister. At the same time, numerous minute blasts emerged from her unveiled left hand and struck the ballroom floor. Instantly a crescent of icicle spikes grew out of the floor between them, separating the new Queen from her party guests in the ballroom. Most of the gathering backed away from the sudden explosion of sharp icy spears in fear and surprise.

"Sorcery!" gasped the Duke of Weselton, stepping back from the icicles and leveling an accusatory, if slightly fearful, gaze at Queen Elsa. "I knew there was something dubious going on here."

"Interesting," Naminé whispered to herself, approaching the icicles and examining them. Elsa had conjured these almost completely nonverbally. No spell incantations, invocations of the blizzard spell, or anything of the like. She almost didn't hear Anna's soft gasp of her sister's name, but Naminé did raise her head towards the queen, prepared to ask her how she did it. When she saw Elsa's face, however, the question died in her throat.

Scrambling backwards, Elsa pried open the door and fled the silent ballroom.

"Your majesty!" Jenkins said, coming up to Naminé with a look of concern on her face. "Are you alright?"

"Perfectly fine, Jenkins," Naminé answered. "Thank you for the concern." She turned back to the icicles. "These are really well done…"

"After her!" shouted Weselton, he and his two men pushing their way around the icy crescent to chase after the fleeing queen. His sudden shout seemed to spur activity and noise into the previously silent hall.

"Elsa!" Princess Anna cried, carefully edging her way around the opposite side from the hurrying duke and his men. "Elsa!" Naminé began following the younger royal sister, with her own party following her. Weselton made it out first, and he and his men threw the doors open, shouting for someone to stop the queen.

"This is some coronation," Melbil said.

"I doubt she intended to do that," Naminé replied. She looked at Anna but felt better of asking the question of 'why' right at this moment.

They raced through the castle towards the front doors, several seconds behind the hot-blooded duke shouting for someone to stop her. They could faintly hear Elsa shout to, "Please, stay away!" after the duke reached the front doors. A blast of frigid air swept through the hall towards them, and frost emerged on the floor at the front of the hall.

"Monster!" screamed the Duke of Weselton. "Monster!"

Finally reaching the entrance to the castle, Naminé could see the duke and his men on the ground, ice and frost covering the stone steps up to the castle's front doors, which were also covered in frost and a thin layer of ice at their base. The fountain in the inner courtyard to her right was frozen into a beautiful sculpture envisioning flowing water suddenly being frozen from the base upwards, but in the darkness of the night it was surely scary to those nearby. Most in the courtyard seemed to think so, all of them wearing faces of shock and fear.

"She doesn't have control," Naminé stated, the evidence piling up in front of them.

"Elsa!" Anna shouted, chasing after her sister who was now fleeing towards the castle's postern. Prince Hans dashed up from behind Naminé's group and passed them, chasing after Anna.

"Should we keep up the chase?" Agatha asked. Naminé shook her head.

"Even if we caught up to her, Queen Elsa is not mentally prepared to face us with this right now," she replied. "Let's head back inside."

"You're just going to let that...that… _monster_ go!?" spat the Duke of Weselton, getting to his feet.

Naminé turned and leveled a chilly gaze at the elder statesman, to whom Naminé was glad that she was at least taller than. "And what makes her a monster, your grace?"

"She attacked me!" he shouted. "What else do you call this?" He gestured towards the ice beneath their feet, and the frozen fountain to their right. Naminé looked again at the frozen steps, doors, and the sudden ice sculpture the fountain had become before returning her eyes to the rabid duke.

"I'd call it 'impressive', your grace, considering that she did it without even trying." The duke took a moment to visibly compose himself in the wake of the young queen's answer.

"Your majesty, with all due respect, the _sorcery_ of that… _creature_ does not deserve respect, nor admiration!"

"You misunderstand me, your grace," Naminé replied tactfully, her hands together in front of her waist and her posture straight and refined. "Any strange power is to be respected, just as any crown or rank is to be respected. The person bearing such a power or position may not be worthy of respect, but one must respect that which they hold, if nothing else. As far as admiration, you are incorrect. I said that it was impressive, considering she clearly did not mean to unleash her power at all, but I do _not_ admire the results of a young sorcerer's magic when they cannot control it." Naminé deeply regretted at that moment not having a collapsible fan with her, because if she did she totally would have snapped it open to declare that the subject was closed.

"Naminé, look," Roxas said, pointing up at the sky. She followed the direction of his finger and ignored the duke's flustered mutterings. A small gasp passed her lips as she took in the most peculiar sight on this southern summer night.

"It's snowing," she stated.

"Didn't we just _leave_ winter?" Roxas grumbled.

"It's snowing! It's snowing!" cried the duke. "The Queen has cursed this land!"

"Don't be such a drama duke," Naminé chided him. "We don't know for sure if she actually did curse the kingdom or if this is just temporary." She folded her arms. "And honestly, there are lots of places that get freak snowstorms in summer."

The duke scowled at her, his men moving to flank him. "Your majesty, please do not make light of the situation we are in."

"And I feel that you could stand to be a little calmer in this situation, your grace," Naminé replied, her women moving to flank her, along with Agatha, Melbil, and Roxas. The crowd in the courtyard, already a little tense from what had just happened, seemed to start forming a loose ring around the two nobles as they bickered, with the children getting excited. "Let's review what we know so far, shall we? One: Queen Elsa has powers involving the control and/or creation of ice and snow and we were previously unaware of them. Two: she accidentally unleashed these powers in the ballroom in a momentary fit of anger and frustration directed at Princess Anna's pointed questioning. Three: Queen Elsa has fled the castle in fear, her powers unintentionally discharging here in the courtyard as well. Four: either she fears us all for what we might do to her now that we know she has power, or she fears for our safety because she has no control over it."

"Five: it's snowing and she has frozen the entire fjord, with winter conditions extending into the surrounding countryside." They all turned at the sound of the new voice, with the crowd parting to reveal Prince Hans making his way towards them with Princess Anna at his side.

"You! Are you a monster too?" the Duke of Weselton shouted.

"Wha—? No! No, I'm perfectly normal," Anna answered.

"That's right, the Princess is completely ordinary," Prince Hans assured them, wrapping his left arm around her and placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with a wry smile and he reacted quickly. "In a good way."

"Princess Anna," Melbil asked politely, "did you know about Queen Elsa's magic?"

"No," Anna replied, desperately seeking to be believed in this. "No, I had no idea that she had them; that she could do this. She didn't mean for this to happen; she was scared, and afraid. I pushed her, so, I'm going to make things right."

"How are you going to do that?" Hans asked. Anna removed herself from his embrace.

"By going after Elsa and talking to her," Anna replied. "Bring me my horse!"

While Prince Hans attempted to dissuade Princess Anna from this somewhat reckless course of action, Naminé looked down at Melbil with a big grin growing on her face. The dwarf princess noticed and immediately shook her head. "No. No, no, no, no, I won't say it."

"C'mon," Naminé teased. "C'mon Melbil. What time is it?"

"Nuh-uh, Naminé, I ain't saying it."

"Say it, Melbil. What time is it? Come on. I need a Wolf to say it."

"I won't."

"Say it. Say it. Say it. What time is it?"

Melbil groaned and looked up at the queen with dead eyes. "…it's staff time."

"It's staff time!" Naminé declared, and reached into a small pouch of holding she always kept on hand and withdrew an oaken staff half a foot longer than she was tall from it, varnished and polished to a glossy shine. Embedded in the haft in three columns were twenty-four sapphires as big as the pad of her thumb. The wood at the top of the staff was formed in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings, with precious jewels of many colours on the eagle's chest and wings with two yellow spinel gems in its eyes. To those who were sensitive to it, they would notice the staff gushing with magical power. She held the varnished wood up against her cheek, lovingly rubbing her face against it. "I love my staff so much I couldn't bear to fuse it into my Keyblade. Roxas, keep Anna here while Melbil and I quickly go change and summon our mounts. The two of us are going with her."

"Going with me?" Princess Anna asked, only catching Naminé's last sentence.

"Your majesty," Jenkins said anxiously. "You can't. It's too—"

"Dangerous?" Naminé interrupted her with a raised eyebrow. "For me? Really Jenkins? Really?"

"Okay, you've got a point there," Jenkins muttered and lowered her hand.

"You don't have to do this, uh, your majesty," Anna said. "Believe me, I appreciate it, but I really don't think my sister—"

"It's because your sister's the one who's run off that I'm going too," Naminé said, turning aside and striding back into the castle. "I need to have a discussion with her, Queen to Queen. Besides, you could stand to have fellow women with experience roughing it in the hills accompanying you through all of… _that_." Naminé glanced back and gestured towards the skies above the countryside, which was difficult to see not only because of the fact that it was late at night, but also because of the clouds full of thickly falling snow.

"This is madness," spat the Duke of Weselton as Naminé and Melbil vanished into the castle. "This whole situation is madness!"

"Shouting about it is not going to do anyone any good," Prince Hans retorted. "Princess Anna and Queen Naminé will bring Queen Elsa back and reverse this winter she's brought on Arendelle."

"And how do we know that?" the duke said suspiciously. "We barely know anything about Queen Naminé. She just showed up out of the blue. We thought we knew Queen Elsa, but now she's gone and done this."

"Elsa can fix this," Anna strongly refuted. "She only caused this because she was scared and frightened. If we can just talk to her when she's calmer I'm sure she can fix things."

The duke stared at her for several seconds before huffing. "Well she'd better."

"Say, um, Sir Roxas?" Anna asked, looking towards the blond. Roxas met her gaze, a little surprised at suddenly being called upon. "There wouldn't be a way to get out of Queen Naminé coming with me, would there? I was sort of expecting on doing this myself. Elsa will listen to me, but I don't know if she'll talk with other people around."

"The only way that you're leaving Naminé behind is if you leave now without her," Roxas said, "but even then, she'd still catch up to you. Trust me, she and Melbil know snow and ice better than almost anyone. Even with a head start, they'll catch you, so you might as well wait for them to come back."

"I see," Anna said. She started to move towards the white horse Kai was bringing out towards her, but her steed still needed to be saddled properly, which the groom was carrying.

"Please don't," Roxas said. "Naminé asked me to keep you here until she and Melbil get back, and I don't want to hear my brother's voice in my head acting out another scene from that silly play."

"I need to go after my sister, Sir Roxas," Anna said. "I can't wait. She could be miles away by now."

"She just left, she's on foot, _you're on a horse_ , and the ground hasn't had time to freeze yet to keep the falling snow from melting," Roxas reminded her. "You can stand to wait a few minutes for Naminé and give Elsa a slightly bigger head start. It makes the chase more fun."

Though Anna clearly wanted to get going as soon as possible, Roxas managed to hold the feisty princess back for the next two minutes until Naminé and Melbil returned out of the front doors of the castle. Naminé was openly and brazenly carrying her staff in her right hand and wearing familiar voluminous blue robes with a wide-brimmed pointed blue hat on her head, with those who managed to catch sight of her clothing beneath spotting chest armour and a funny-shaped sword hilt. Over her robes she had donned her own cloak of the Fearless Wolves, edged in blue and silver. Melbil had a rich beaver fur coat on over a breastplate and hauberk, the hilt of her Keyblade visible on one hip and an axe on the other, with a round shield strapped to her back above her white cloak. Behind each of them trotted an animal, in Melbil's case it was a giant dark grey boar with steel-capped tusks and a rich leather saddle, and in Naminé's case it was a big black female rouncey with wool and plate barding on her neck and head, with a saddle as finely crafted as Melbil's. A cat also sat perched between the ears of the black mare, apparently snoozing.

The Duke of Weselton quickly got out of the way when Melbil's boar grunted at him, and the dwarf princess chuckled. "What on earth?" he asked, staring widely at the two of them. "Queen Naminé, why are you dressed like that? Do you think that this is all some kind of joke?"

"Dressed like what?" Naminé asked.

"Do not mock me, your majesty," the duke replied. "Dressing up as some fantastical sorcerer on the same night that Queen Elsa reveals herself to be a cursed monster."

"Oh by no means am I a sorcerer, your grace," Naminé replied with a small smile. A soft hissing sound came from her robes, and out of the sleeve of her right arm a green snake slithered out and wound around her staff until it reached the top. The duke's and his men's terrified faces at the sight of her familiar were making her howl in laughter on the inside. "I am a _wizard_ , an archmage, in fact, and I would appreciate it if you remembered that."

"So I take it that you got it working," Roxas stated.

"Yes," Melbil said, coming up to Anna and her horse, which was fidgeting madly in the presence of the great big warboar. "And, you're going to love this, the exact same amount of time has gone by there as here since we left." Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Oh _of course_ the time differential works fine now. Typical Spirit of Adventure… and here we all were, worried that years will have passed and we'd be nothing more than a page in history books."

"Whoa! Whoa!" Anna shouted, trying to get her horse under control as its nerves snapped with the boar almost its size standing next to it. "Steady boy, steady!" Hans, Kai, and the groom moved in to assist, but the horse still kept braying and shaking its head. It couldn't stand still and was being generally uncooperative.

"Should we have brought Lotte?"

"No," Naminé answered Roxas. She patted her horse on the neck. "Yvonne." Her horse nodded its head and trotted towards the out of control stallion. She snorted twice, stomping her hoof on the ground in front of her between the two snorts, and attracted the stallion's attention.

Anna's horse stopped panicking and stared straight at the mare. Nobody was quite sure if they were seeing things or not, but it looked like giant hearts appeared in his eyes.

"I wonder how that horse will react if it finds out Yvonne is mated to Firebolt?" Roxas muttered, referencing Riku's horse's name.

"I don't think he cares," Melbil said, chuckling. "Naminé, are ye coming or, wait, what in Armok's name is Bast doing here?"

"You tell me!" Naminé replied, saddling up on Yvonne. "I have no idea why my cat just keeps showing up randomly."

"So you're both coming with me, then?" Anna's voice was anxious as she glanced between the warboar and Naminé's big charger. Even though her white horse was taller than Melbil's boar, both other animals seemed to dwarf her palfrey.

"Just accept that we are," Melbil told her, "and it'll be a lot easier on ye."

"Okay, um." Anna coughed and straightened up on her horse. Those still in the courtyard looked at the odd trio, with a visiting queen dressed in strange robes and a pointed hat, bearing a staff, and the other decked out like she was going into battle. "I'll be going after Queen Elsa, and Queen Naminé of Radiant Garden and her Lady Melbil will accompany me. I leave Prince Hans in charge."

"Roxas, I want you and Agatha to assist Prince Hans while I'm gone," Naminé said.

"Yes dear," he said, smirking and looking up at her.

"Oh don't give me that look," Naminé laughed. "I'm not trying to sideline you. You're going to have your hands full wrangling that duke."

"While _you_ get to take on a sorceress with powerful ice magic whose limits we haven't seen yet," Roxas reminded her. He sighed. "Just be careful, okay? Radiant Garden can't afford to lose you now, and Iroviel will be sad if the lady who will become her stepmom goes away forever."

Naminé gasped slightly and looked at Roxas with softened eyes. She felt close to tears at the implications. "Do you truly mean that?"

"Every word," Roxas said. He broke the moment with a laugh. "We have to make sure we all beat Sora and Kairi to the altar, after all, just to rub their noses in it."

"Roxas you're terrible," Naminé giggled. She adjusted her grip on the reins of her horse and passed Roxas a small charm. "I'll be back soon, but if anything happens, use this to come after me."

"I'll be waiting." Roxas stepped back, tightly clutching Nebulus' summon charm. Anna led the way out, her horse galloping through the courtyard with Naminé's steed and Melbil's boar closely following.

-A-D-

 _Well now,_ Frozen _. Let's see how well our own Ice Queen handles Disney's Snow Queen._

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


	9. Arendelle II

_And now on to the second chapter of AoD's following of_ Frozen _!_

 _There is now a Discord server! Here is the invite: /uehngnd_

 _Disclaimer: One of these days I'll get back to Table of the Keyblades, but even when I do, I still won't own Kingdom Hearts._

-A-D-

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter Nine: Arendelle II

 _1900hrs_

 _December 23_ _nd_ _, Shire Reckoning_

 _Rivendell, Middle-earth_

"Darling, a part of me feels bad about this."

"Bad about what?"

Sora looked over at Kairi as she lay on a couch on an outdoor patio in the last homely house east of the sea. It was evening, and they were alone. She placed the book she had been reading down on her chest and turned her head towards him. He was also lying on a couch opposite hers, a small circular table between them, pressing a cold compress to his side.

"That we're here, in Rivendell, ostensibly relaxing while we wait for all of Elrond's scouts to come back and preparing for the journey to protect Frodo from the Heartless," Kairi relayed to Sora, "while meanwhile Riku and Yuffie are out there with our new Wielders…"

"And Naminé and Roxas, meanwhile, are attending the coronation of another ruler on your world," Sora said with a bit of a chuckle. "I think all of the scouts Elrond sent out have returned, actually. I heard from Gandalf earlier. They've had no news of the Ringwraiths being active even on the other side of the mountains, so Gandalf thinks we will be leaving in about two days."

"Christmas day, eh?" Kairi replied. "Not the day I would have picked to start a new adventure, but what can you do?"

Sora paused, thinking for a moment. "You know Iri, if you hadn't abdicated right when you did, it'd probably be us over there."

"Dancing at parties and chatting with ambassadors instead of lounging on couches," Kairi sighed, returning to her book. "Such a sacrifice."

"Maybe _you're_ lounging," Sora stated, "but _I'm_ convalescing!"

"Oh come off it," Kairi scoffed. "You're just a little bruised."

"Would you like to have another few rounds with Cosmos?"

"Gods, no," Kairi said, shaking her head. "I'm beating myself up enough studying my own spellbook; I don't need to add a physical beating from your crazy Keyblade to my list of woes." Kairi scrunched her face up, sneezed, and rubbed her nose. "Also, I think I'm getting a cold."

"Ha, yeah right," Sora laughed. "Nice try, Kairi, but you haven't been sick ever since you became a full-fledged paladin. Something to do with the Light's divine protection making you immune to diseases?" Kairi grimaced at Sora's smug look.

"Oh fine, be that way and give me no sympathy," Kairi huffed. "I just can't be anything close to normal these days. Naminé's freaking amazing; even with the blessing of Athena she managed to make Archmage in three years. Yvette was a workaholic prodigy and it still took her six times that long to attain that level of skill. _And_ Naminé has her sights set on being Queen of Radiant Garden. I don't hold a candle to her drive and ambition."

"Yes, Naminé is amazing," Sora agreed. "But, she _was_ a Nobody, so maybe it's in her psyche to be ambitious? Roxas was the first one of us to be given a knighthood, after all, and the Organization was more ambitious than Maleficent."

"Hmm, that's true, though she's certainly become more ambitious since we beat them," Kairi muttered. She dropped her eyes from her spellbook again and rubbed her nose with her left hand. A gentle breeze blew by, ruffling the pages of her book and the leaves that were still in the trees, the power of the elves making the dead of winter feel like it was still late summer in Imladris. "I wonder what Naminé's up to right about now. Oh, by the way, Sora, I had a horrible dream last night."

"Really?" Sora asked. "What was it about?"

"I dreamed you were a dog. My husband was a dog. Worst dream ever."

"That's a bit harsh, wouldn't you say?" Sora replied, feeling just a little wounded. "I thought you liked dogboys."

"I do, when they're basically the mirror image of catgirls. But. You. Were. A. Chihuahua." She paused and grinned at the look on Sora's face. "Aww, is my darling's ego and self-image bruised? Would you like me to kiss it all better?"

"I would like that very much," Sora replied sincerely with closed eyes, a soft smile, and a faint blush of embarrassment on his cheeks for admitting it. He heard Kairi shut her book properly and rise from her couch. Her soft slippers quietly padded over to where he was lying down, and when he stopped hearing them he opened his eyes to see Kairi gently smiling down at him. Her left hand came down to cradle the side of his face closest to her, soothing, creamy fingers brushing into his soft, conditioned beard. Her lips were sweet against his, truthfully making him feel better as Kairi kissed her darling. Sora reciprocated, lightly cupping the back of Kairi's head with his right hand as he returned his beloved's affections, and he tried not to feel the very gradual but noticeable direction Kairi's right hand was travelling in, moving down his chest towards the groin.

Fun as that attempt would be, Sora felt the need to cut it short before it even began. "Kairi, no, not now." Her right hand froze in its tracks before slowly returning to her side.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked, concerned. "Does the bruising from training with Cosmos hurt that much? Do you not want me? Want these?" Her right and left hands went to her chest to further emphasize her assets, and the sultry smirk Kairi wore to entice him could only make him laugh.

"Kairi, I want you more than I can bear," Sora answered, "I'd love to just bury my face in your boobs and drown in them, but I have a feeling that we will be interrupted again if we try."

"So just kissing, then," Kairi stated, a bit of disappointment creeping into her tone. Despite their mutual desire for more, Kairi acquiesced to Sora's wishes and did not go further.

True to Sora's premonition, ninety seconds after they had started again they heard the sound of a portal opening in the courtyard nearby, and a familiar voice calling, "Sora! My lord, I need you!"

Groaning a bit at this not entirely unexpected intrusion, both removed themselves from the couch and each other to peer in the direction Naminé's voice had come from. She was maybe ten metres away, behind the couch they had been making out on, and had her back turned to them. She was wearing her blue wizard robes and pointy hat. Sora took a moment to make himself a bit more presentable while wondering why she was wearing those before answering his vassal. "Yes, Naminé, what is it?"

She turned around, thrusting the carcass of a small brown-feathered bird in her right hand towards him. "I need you to cook this quail for me."

"No."

Naminé blinked, at first seemingly unable to believe that Sora was denying her. "My lord?"

"Naminé, you haven't even plucked it yet. If I am going to cook it for you I need it to be worth my time to dress the bird as well as cook it. One quail does not a meal make; _that_ is a coffee crisp."

"It's a… what?" Kairi asked, incredulously. "Sora, did Cosmos hit you too hard on the head?"

"No, Kairi. A single quail is like a coffee crisp. A nice light snack, you know?"

A few seconds passed before both sisters rolled their eyes and groaned. "You are such a goober, Sora," Kairi said, shaking her head.

"Regardless, the answer is no, Naminé, not unless you bring me at least three quail or something of decent size, like a pheasant."

"Ugh," Naminé griped. "Guess I'll go trudging through the snow on a mountaintop at dusk to find another effing quail." She began working on the magic that would open a portal to take her back to where she had come from.

"Hey, Naminé," Kairi queried, "Why do you need Sora to cook you a quail anyway?"

Naminé stopped what she was doing and turned back to look at them. "Oh, well, funny story. You see…"

-A-D-

 _1943hrs, Arendelle Time  
Monday, December 22_ _nd_ _, 1671 Aurus (Radiant Garden) Reckoning  
Arendelle, Aurus_

"Ah… sauna," Naminé sighed in bliss, lying down on the wooden bench as her cheeks grew rosy in the heat.

"It's nice and warm in here," Melbil said, sitting down near Naminé's feet and keeping a hand up near the white towel on her chest. "It feels good."

"This is _just_ what I needed," Anna groaned, sitting back on the opposite side of the room from them. "I can feel the heat melting into my bones." Naminé cracked an eye at the princess. They had left the castle Friday night looking for the wayward Queen, and now it was Monday evening. Three days of searching had turned up fruitless, with the weather getting steadily colder as time wore on. Naminé had to surmise that when they first left the chill was hovering only at around a balmy negative five degrees Celsius, but now the mercury was likely steadily in the minus eighteen area. Fortunately the wind wasn't too bad, so that wasn't much of a problem.

What _was_ a problem was that while Melbil and Naminé had been prepared for the cold weather, the human princess among them had left Arendelle castle in her ballroom gown with only a cloak. Naminé had been willing to cast spells to protect the younger royal from the cold, but only for so long. After the third time Melbil's boar had dug up truffles instead of leading the way to Queen Elsa, their search net widened since all leads they had at that point were now cold, and Princess Anna fell off her horse when it panicked after a lump of snow fell from a tree and landed on its rump. They found Anna trudging through the snow as it was starting to get dark, Anna having lost her cloak somewhere along the way and complaining with chattering teeth about Elsa not having tropical magic turning everything into white sandy beaches with palm and coconut trees and perfect warm sunny weather.

Salvation came in the form of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna, which was where they were now.

Naminé stretched her limbs and then folded her hands behind her head. "Mmmm. The only way this could be better would be if it were a hot spring, don't you agree, Erry?" Her snake familiar slithered out a touch from beneath her towel, the creature's body squeezed between her bosoms, and hissed at her. It was a touch warm, even for the viper, but this was a far better predicament for the cold-blooded reptile to be in compared to the freezing winter outside. Snuggled between his master's breasts in the middle of a sauna's heat definitely warmed him out of his sluggish hibernation.

"A hot spring," Melbil sighed. "Now ye're makin' me think o' taking a bath, Naminé; a nice hot bath that I can soak in for hours until me body gets all pruny."

"A bath would be nice," Anna admitted. "It's been three days, after all." She sighed. "I honestly thought we'd have found Elsa by now. Sir Roxas made it sound so easy."

"It was supposed to be easy," Naminé said, and craned her neck up to look at Melbil. "And it would have been had _somebody_ 's boar been halfway decent at tracking people opposed to mushrooms."

Melbil shrugged it off. "Eh, we got some mushrooms out of it, so it wasn't all bad. Can't blame a boar for being a boar, right?"

"No, but we can blame whoever trains your boars for not being trained to track people instead of digging for fungi," Naminé sighed. She turned her head over to Anna, looking at her sideways. "Say, Anna, why _did_ Queen Elsa and you argue anyway? I've held off on asking, but now my curiosity's getting the better of me."

"Oh, _that_ , well…" Anna giggled nervously. "It was all my fault, really. I got engaged, and she wasn't happy about that because, you know, I'd just met him, that day, and so she freaked out and—"

"Shh," Naminé interrupted, holding up a hand. "Whoa whoa whoa stop stop stop. You just met him and you decided to marry him?"

"Yeah," Anna replied, clarifying like it what she had said was nothing worth noting. "Anyway, so I got mad because she wouldn't bless the marriage, and then she got mad, and then she tried to walk away and I grabbed her glove and—"

"Wait," Melbil said, waving her hands around now. "You mean tahsay that ye got engaged to a man ye'd just met?"

"Yes," Anna answered exasperatedly, "pay attention. But the thing is, she wore the gloves all the time, so I just thought, 'maybe she has a thing about dirt'?"

Naminé groaned into her hand as her fingers encircled her forehead and eyebrows, though that did not stop her from logging that particular bit of information that Elsa's powers were channeled through her hands. "Anna, sweetie, the gloves aren't the problem. Of course Elsa wasn't going to bless the marriage; how can you get engaged to this person if you'd only just met him? You don't even know him."

"We talked and danced all evening," Anna replied, somewhat indignant. "So I think I know Hans pretty well, thank you."

"Oh it was Prince Hans, was it?" Melbil queried. "Tall guy, handsome fellow, perfect hair?"

"That's him," Anna said proudly, her eyes starting to glass over.

"I think I spoke with him a few times during the day," Naminé said. "What's his last name?"

"Of the... Southern Isles," Anna replied.

"Favourite food?" Melbil asked.

"Sandwiches."

"Best friend?"

"Probably John."

"Eye colour?"

"Dreamy."

"Foot size?"

"Foot size doesn't matter," Anna answered dismissively.

"Oh honey, but it does matter," Naminé giggled. She groaned again. "So, to recap, you and Prince Hans von Köreg of the Southern Isles, the youngest of the thirteen Köreg brothers, got engaged after first meeting each other on Friday when Elsa was crowned Queen of Arendelle. You asked your sister to bless the nuptials and permit them to proceed and she denied your request because you'd just met each other and she could not in good conscious bless giving away her only sister to not only a man her sister had just met, but to a man that she did not know either. You argued, you took her glove, and her powers blew up in everyone's collective faces."

"Yeah," Anna said leaning forward. "Isn't it insane? Why would she do that? I can totally marry Hans if I want. It's true love!"

"Sounds more like she wants you to take some time to get to really know Hans first rather than believing in true love and jump straight into marriage," Melbil said.

"But we're destined for each other," Anna argued. "The two of us are completely in synch. It _has_ to be true love."

Naminé scoffed. "Anna, my sister and her true love have been dating for over three years and they still aren't married. _My_ true love knocked up another woman and married her." Naminé sat up and wiped some of the sweat off of her forehead as Erry slithered out of her cleavage and wrapped around her shoulders. "Love, and especially true love, is far more complicated than a single date."

 _Probably shouldn't tell her about Cinderella, though,_ she privately mused. _That might just make things worse if she finds out about that._

"Regardless," Anna huffed, her heart clearly still infatuated with Hans and unwilling to listen to reason, "we still have no idea where my sister went."

"Perhaps we should ask the owner of this place?" Melbil asked, glancing at the window into the sauna, from which they could see the proprietor sitting at his counter and looking bored. "When we entered, all we really enquired about was this wonderful sauna. I feel like I've already baked away a pound or two."

"Can't hurt," Naminé said, shrugging. "It's not like we've met anyone else out here that we can talk to and interrogate."

"Are we going to do the good guard, bad guard routine?" Melbil asked.

"I don't think we can physically intimidate that guy unless we pulled out weapons," Naminé answered seriously, "and I honestly don't want to go around getting a reputation as a thug queen." The very words left a bad taste in her mouth, and she had the brief mental image of herself dressed in black leather with a cigar in her mouth, her hands clutching a silver chain with a spiked weight on the end. Yakuza Naminé, she quickly dubbed it. Maybe she should go and pick up an outfit like that, or a spiked club, just in the off chance that she may eventually want to bring out 'bad girl yakuza Naminé' for a costume party. It felt like a decent choice for next year's Halloween costume.

Their plan set, they waited a few more minutes until they were certain that their bones were thoroughly cooked and all vestiges of cold had been removed from their bodies before exiting and changing back into their clothes, including Anna's recently purchased new winter outfit that was guaranteed to keep her warm, so long as the temperature did not drop drastically.

Upon their return to the shop's interior, they were surprised that another individual was in the trading post, speaking with Oaken. The frosted tips of his blond hair peeked out beneath his grey wool toque, and his parka and pants were covered in slowly melting snow.

"You want to talk about a supply and demand problem?" the man said rhetorically, his voice indicating that he was young, probably in his late teens or early twenties, "I sell _ice_ for a living."

"My condolences," Melbil said, chuckling. "But don't worry, we'll fix this for ye."

"Uh-huh," he replied, voice muffled a bit by his scarf, but seemingly unimpressed. "And how would you do that?"

"Simple," Anna replied confidently. "I'm going to have a talk with my sister and get her to reverse this winter in summer, as soon as I can find her, that is."

"Let me know how that goes," he said dryly. "Until then, I still need to find a way to live." He looked back to Oaken, and Naminé, Melbil, and Anna looked at the goods on the counter. An ice pick, a rope, and some carrots.

"Still forty," Oaken said, "but I will throw in a visit to Oaken's Sauna." He gestured at the three women, and Naminé realized that her skin was probably still pretty red.

"Ten's all I've got," the man pleaded. "Help me out."

"O-kay," Oaken answered, and pulled the rope and pick closer to himself and pushed the carrots towards the customer. "Ten will get you this and no more."

The man sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "First it was that blizzard from the north mountain freezing everything and now this."

"The north mountain?" Anna asked, perking up. "Say, there wouldn't happen to be anything, you know, magical, going on at the north mountain by any chance?"

The man pulled down his scarf. "Yes," he said exasperatedly. "Now back up, while I deal with this crook here."

Oaken stood up. It wasn't sudden, but he rose slowly and in such a way that nobody could ignore it. Melbil gasped as the shopkeeper whose head had been about level with Anna's while sitting down rose to nearly the ceiling of the trading post. Towering over them, Naminé couldn't shake the thought that Erry was hissing in her ear. _"He's as big as an ogre!"_

"What did you call me?"

"Uhm… uh…" the man stuttered, stunned at the sight of Oaken transforming in front of him from a simple merchant behind a counter into a _huge_ merchant behind the counter. Oaken moved quickly, reminding Naminé and Melbil that just because things were big did not mean that they were slow. Giants and giantkin also had much longer strides than smaller folk, and Oaken was definitely starting to border on that size. He picked up the customer and effortlessly carried him away and tossed him out of the store and into the snow.

"I apologize for this violence," Oaken said as he returned to his seat at the counter. "Your trip to Oaken's Sauna was enjoyable, yah?"

"Uh, yes, yes it was!" Anna replied, sounding a bit too eager to praise his facilities, after what they'd just witnessed. "Say, um, Oaken?"

"Yes?"

"You wouldn't happen to be able to sell me those, would you?" Anna asked, pointing at the items still left on the counter.

"Still forty."

-A-D-

"Come on, you can do it," Naminé said, encouraging Anna as the three of them huddled nearby the entrance to a stable that Oaken had on his property. The glint of firelight was coming from underneath the door, and they could hear the man Oaken had thrown out singing while strumming on a lute.

"I don't know about this," Anna said, holding onto two sacks, one containing the rope and pick, and the other the carrots. "I've never done anything like this before."

"Come on," Melbil echoed Naminé, "yer his princess. _Command_ him! As one princess to another, ye got to make sure the people respect and honour ye."

"You're a princess?" Anna gasped.

"My great-grandfather Eshtan is a king," Melbil replied, voice filled with pride. "And I dutifully served in our kingdom's army. The Zeleroltar blood runs hot and strong in our veins, commanding us to protect and defend our mountain."

"Proud warriors, the Primegild clan," Naminé added, "and I agree with her. You are his princess. Compel him to follow you in any way you can." She pointed at the two sacks Anna was carrying. "Even bribery can instill at least a modicum of loyalty."

Anna took a few deep breaths. "Okay. Wish me luck." She pushed open the door as his singing ceased, and the man on the other side yelped in surprise. "Nice duet."

"Oh, it's only you," the young man groaned. "What do you want?"

"I want you to take me up the north mountain," replied Anna.

"Too passive," whispered Melbil, she and Naminé hiding out of sight.

"Sorry, but Sven and I don't take passengers," the man replied. His voice was tired and dismissive.

"Let me rephrase that," Anna said, her tone of voice changing as she seemingly took Melbil's words to heart. She chucked one of the sacks at him, getting a grunt out of him that Naminé and Melbil could hear. "Take me up the north mountain, please. I know how to stop this winter."

There was a pause, and then a sigh. "We leave first thing in the morning. And you forgot the carrots for Sven."

Anna chucked the carrot sack at him, eliciting another grunt. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to… Heh-hem. We leave _now_ ; right now." She turned away and left the doorway to join her royal compatriots outside the stable. Her face was flushed and she placed her mittoned hand to her chest. "That was nerve-wracking. How'd I do?"

"I think he could tell that you don't do this a lot," Melbil answered.

"But it seems like you convinced him to help us, so… that's a win," added Naminé. "Good job. Come on Melbil, let's get our mounts. I don't think we can fit in that sleigh with him and Anna."

The two of them were all saddled up and ready by the time he had finished hitching up the reindeer to the sleigh. He looked at them and sighed. "Right. You two. Why am I even surprised?"

"Probably because you didn't see the boar," Anna suggested.

"So are Sven and I guiding a circus now?" he asked rhetorically. "A reindeer, a horse, a woman who dresses like a witch, and a boar-riding midget dark woman."

"Hey now, no need to get offensive there, big man," Naminé said, holding up her hand at the man who stood over six feet tall before gesturing down at Melbil. "She's a dwarf. _Halflings_ are midgets."

"Dwarf huh," he said, his eyes showing interest for the first time since seeing him. "That's interesting. My name's Kristoff, by the way."

"Melbil."

"Naminé."

"A—"

"Yeah, I know," Kristoff replied. "Princess Anna."

"How did you know?" she asked.

"You said earlier that you were going to have a talk with your sister and get her to reverse this," Kristoff said. "Rumour has it that this frozen summer was caused by Queen Elsa, so you can only be Princess Anna. Come on, into the sleigh." Anna climbed in with Kristoff, and with a snap of the reins the reindeer-driven sleigh took off into the night with Naminé and Melbil close by on horse and boar.

"Hold on tight," Kristoff warned Anna, "we like to go fast."

"Good," Anna replied, leaning back and putting her boots up, "I like fast."

"Whoa! Whoa whoawhoawhoawhoa! Get your feet down!" exclaimed Kristoff, pushing her boots off of the hood of his sleigh. "This is fresh lacquer. Were you raised in a barn?" Anna winced as Kristoff's sudden urge to spit-shine the lacquer splashed onto her cheek.

"No, I was raised in a castle," Anna answered.

"Which, you know, just begs people to forget manners as soon as they're out of one," Naminé chuckled. Melbil huffed.

"Manners only exist in the throne room," she stated. "There's no such thing as court manners outside the walls."

"So," Kristoff asked, "what made the queen go all ice crazy?"

"Oho, you're going to _love_ this," Naminé said.

"Go on, Anna," Melbil prodded with a wicked grin, "tell the man what you told us."

"Ugh," Anna groaned. "It's my fault, really. I got engaged but then she freaked out because I'd only just met him, you know, that day, and she said she wouldn't bless the marriage—"

"Wait," Kristoff interrupted her, Melbil and Naminé sharing knowing grins. "You got engaged to someone you just met that day?"

"Yeah," Anna replied. "Anyway, I got mad, and so she got mad, and then she tried to walk away, and I grabbed her glove—"

"Hang on!" Kristoff said, turning around to face her in the sleigh and leaving it up to Sven to just run on his own. "You mean to tell me that you got _engaged_ to someone you _just_ met _that day_!?"

"I know, right?!" Naminé and Melbil chorused.

"Didn't your parents ever warn you about strangers?" Kristoff asked incredulously.

Anna slowly shifted her weight to the far end of the sleigh's bench from him. "Yes they did. But _Hans_ is not a stranger."

"Oh really?" Kristoff replied, humoured. "What's his last name?"

"Of the Southern Isles," Anna answered.

"Favourite food?"

"Sa—"

"We quizzed her on these already, by the way," Melbil chuckled. "She knows nothing about him."

"Have you even had a meal with him yet?" Kristoff asked. "What if you don't like the way he eats? What if you hate the way he picks his nose?"

" _What?_ " said Anna. "Picks his nose?"

"And _eats_ it?" Kristoff finished.

"Excuse me, sir, he is a prince," Anna refuted in the first serious voice Naminé had ever heard come out of her mouth. Kristoff matched her glare with a smug, knowing, look.

"All men do it," he stated. Anna immediately looked to Naminé for confirmation.

"I will confirm picking his nose," she answered, "but I can't confirm eating it beyond, you know, when you're sick and you inhale it down and swallow it."

"Ew," Anna said before shaking her head. "Not like it matters, though, since it's true love."

"Yeah, doesn't sound like true love to me."

"And what are you," Anna queried, "some kind of love expert?"

Kristoff seemed to wilt at Anna's question. "Well… uh, no. But I have friends who are."

Melbil's boar snorted and shook its head and Yvonne's ears went flat. Naminé narrowed her eyes at her horse's signals and began looking around.

" _You_ have friends who are love experts?" Anna said in disbelief, not noticing the signs the animals were giving them, including Sven as his head perked up. "I'm not buying it."

"Stop talking," Kristoff said quickly, stopping the sleigh as an anxious tone crept into his voice.

"We're not alone," Melbil added. Her boar brayed loudly, silencing whatever Anna looked like she had been about to say in retaliation for being told to keep quiet. Kristoff picked up the lantern and began scanning around them while the animals shifted their heads and listened. Naminé turned Yvonne around, looking through the darkness for the foes she knew were there, but when a couple seconds of peering through the trees was not enough, Naminé resorted to the tried and true and lifted her left hand into the air.

"Flare," she uttered, and a sudden bright streak of white light burst from her hand and shot into the sky about fifty metres before reaching the zenith of its arc and beginning a slow descent even as its light grew brighter, illuminating everything. In a way, it was a bad idea, since all the white snow was glaring into their eyes, but at least they could see what had been hunting them as the creatures also paused and recoiled from the bright light.

Wolves.

"Sven, go. Go!" Kristoff said. Just as the reindeer started to move out again, there was the hiss of steel being withdrawn from scabbards and the angry screams and neighs of a warboar and charger.

"Queen Naminé!" Anna shouted.

"We'll catch up! Go on ahead!" Naminé shouted to them as they both advanced in opposite directions. "We'll be fine! Go!" She drew her Keyblade from its sheath, Nobody's Pride no longer appearing in its distinctive shape but now appeared as a long sword with frost coating the blade and a pattern of snowflakes engraved into the hilt. Melbil's drawn Keyblade, Mountainborne, had not taken on the appearance of a magic weapon she had absorbed into the Keyblade, but instead let it remain in its rather unique shape. She gripped it tightly in her gloved hand, grasping at what was at once both the haft of an axe and a box-shaped hilt of most Keyblades. The haft looked to be made of a golden metal, and the axe head that made the key portion of her weapon was in the shape of a snowy steel mountain with many gems at its roots.

They were on the wolves in seconds, Melbil's boar braying in anger as it thrashed its tusked head from side to side, goring two of the carnivores with them and eliciting pained yelps to replace their snarling barks. The dwarf herself hacked down at another with her Keyblade, flattening the wolf against the ground as she cut into its spine. Naminé held on tightly as Yvonne reared beneath her, flashing out with her forehooves to ward off the wolves' as they circled, and Naminé pointed her weapon at one of the creatures. A frigid ray shot out and struck the ground just in front of the wolf's front paws as she missed slightly, and the space, which was already covered in cold snow, became solidly encased in ice as its temperature dropped even further.

Naminé clicked her tongue in disappointment in missing with her quickly cast blizzard magic, but she felt no need to expend great magical effort on dealing with these wolves. They were only wolves, after all, not Heartless. One leapt for Naminé, and she countered with a weak backhanded slash of her weapon across its side. That was enough of a painful distraction to prevent it from biting—her Keyblade barely cut its skin. What was more damaging was the way that the wolf's blood steamed in the cold air, freezing into macabre red ice crystals on the wound and ground. More wolves snarled at Naminé, but none seemed particularly keen on getting near her at the moment.

That suited her just fine, as Melbil and her boar dispatched of another pair of wolves from the pack. By Naminé's count that left only eight wolves on them, and it looked like they were beginning to consider that _this_ prey was far more dangerous than they had first considered. "Melbil, cover your ears!" she warned, before she muttered some words under her breath and felt a magical tickle in her throat. Knowing her spell had succeeded, she inhaled deeply before shouting as loud as she could, " **ORYAAA!** "

Her voice boomed out of her throat like an explosion, pounding into their eardrums even through the hands her dwarf companion had thrown up to protect hers. The wolves scarpered, frightened by the intense noise that Naminé had just made, and both riders had to work to restrain their mounts that, while trained, had not anticipated the sudden eruption of sound.

After close to a minute of wrangling with them, Naminé and Melbil had managed to calm their animals down enough to get them back on the trail of Kristoff, Anna, and Sven, illuminated through an orb of light Naminé had conjured up. "Do ye think they heard that?" Melbil asked in a chuckle as they plodded along at a comfortable pace, confident that they would come across the others soon enough.

"Well it was certainly _loud_ ," Naminé agreed. "But, Sven had been galloping away as fast as he could, so I don't know. Maybe?" The world around them started to gain more light and colour as they followed the trail of their companions, and they halted as they came across a rather serious obstacle. A cliff sharply ended the trail of the sleigh, though fortunately they could see Kristoff, Anna, and Sven safely on the other side of the ravine that cut through the mountain. At the base of the ravine, Melbil and Naminé could see the burning, broken remains of Kristoff's sleigh.

"Glad they made that jump," Melbil intoned.

"Hey!" Anna called, waving her hands as she saw them approach the edge of the cliff and stop. "You might want to try looking for another way around. It's a hard jump."

"You guys made it," Melbil said.

"Well… yeah, we did," Anna replied. "But it's still a big, scary jump. Kristoff almost fell." Melbil looked at Naminé, who smiled wryly at her companion.

"We're in luck that I prepared jump spells yesterday morning," she said. "I figured they might be useful eventually while exploring an unfamiliar land."

"That makes me wonder just how many combat-oriented magic spells you choose _not_ to memorize on most days."

"I assure you that my endothermic lightning ball is always prepared for whenever I need to dish one out," Naminé said calmly, placing a hand upon her chest in a gesture of sincerity. "I keep another few spells from Olomund in reserve, but I also have all of my magic as a Keyblade Wielder from the Realm of Light at my disposal too, so I've been ignoring memorizing a fair bit of my combat magic for most days." She mounted Yvonne and turned her horse around to give them a fair bit of distance. "Say, Melbil, would you prefer jumping, or flying?"

"I think having our horse and boar fly may be a wee bit much for 'em," she replied. "Just a magically enhanced jump should be fine."

Landing on the other side of the ravine without any trouble and plenty of room, Naminé smiled triumphantly while patting Yvonne's neck. No need to let them know that her magic had helped, but Yvonne still turned her neck back to look at her rider, as if saying, _I didn't need any help. I could've made that jump on my own_.

"I know you could have, but I didn't want to risk you being hurt," Naminé said soothingly while stroking her horse's neck.

"Well," Anna said, looking around at the four people and three large animals, "shall we get going?"

"No," Melbil said, sliding off her boar. "We should make camp. The space around those trees over there looks nice."

"We can't make camp," Anna replied. "Now that we have a guide to the north mountain, we need to get to Elsa as soon as possible."

"So you're not tired after spending half the night wandering around half frozen and the other half riding in a sleigh with no sleep?" Melbil inquired.

"Not in the least," Anna proudly declared. The two adventurers exchanged looks.

Less than an hour later Anna was draped over Yvonne's saddle as she slept in the early morning. Just because Elsa had turned the country into a winter wonderland didn't mean she had also changed the positioning and rotation of the planet in its orbit around its mother star, meaning that it was still roughly five in the morning.

Leaving the princess asleep, however, did give those remaining awake a chance to talk.

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Kristoff asked, looking at Naminé and Melbil as they led their animals along.

"We'll be fine," Melbil replied. "We're used to stuff like this."

Naminé munched on a stick of jerky while nodding her head. "A couple of days without sleep isn't too much of an issue for us. How are you and Sven holding up?"

"Oh, we're fine," Kristoff answered. "Spending long nights cutting ice up in the mountains has made it easier on us. By the way, I know your names, but who exactly are you?" he asked. "Why are you looking for the queen with Anna?"

Naminé swallowed the jerky in her mouth before answering. "I am Naminé Talerith, Queen and ruling monarch of the Kingdom of Radiant Garden."

"And I am Princess Melbil Zeleroltar, great-granddaughter of the King Eshtan Zeleroltar of Udil Zanos who reins from his throne in the mighty halls of Rigothiton," Melbil declared passionately.

"Which is not even on this planet," Naminé casually interjected. "Good luck dragging him back to bask in the wonders of your volcanic home, with seams of gold that run like rivers through the rock."

"Don't spoil me fun."

"Wait, so why are you even in Arendelle?" Kristoff asked.

"She got invited to the coronation and I came with her as part of her party," Melbil replied, jabbing her thumb out towards the archmage queen.

"Then why are you both out here in the wilderness instead of back in Arendelle waiting for Anna to bring her sister back?" Kristoff asked.

"Have you met Anna?" Melbil asked back. Kristoff stopped walking for a few seconds as he looked at the princess dozing on horseback, a line of drool escaping from the corner of her lips.

"Okay, good point," Kristoff relented. "I can't argue with that."

"Besides that," Naminé added, "Elsa's a sorceress who seems to have been repressing her gift and has received no formal training in controlling it. As a fellow person with similar talents, I want to help her." Naminé looked down for a moment. "There were times in my past when I was called a witch. Hearing the Duke of Weselton call her a monster made me feel… sad is a terribly inadequate way of putting it but it's the only word I can think of right now to describe how I felt about her situation, and I think that Elsa must be very lonely right about now." She sighed and looked up sharply, putting a smile on her face. "So, what about you, Kristoff? Why are you helping sleeping beauty?"

"I guess at this point it's mostly the same reason you two are," he said, shrugging and sharing a look with his reindeer friend. "She'll just die out here on her own, and if that happens I can kiss the new sled she promised me goodbye."

"There's snow easy way to say it then, but your loyalty is on… thin ice?" Naminé asked. She couldn't help but crack a grin, wishing that she had a pair of sunglasses to put on right then and there.

"Icy what you did there," Melbil answered, "and it snow funny."

"Ah, c'mon there Melbil," Naminé said, "don't give me the cold shoulder."

"I'm just keeping ye from getting any brrright ideas."

"Now white did you say that? I thawed you liked puns."

"The first to start punning has more fresh powder than what's good for them."

"Would both of you chill-dren please stop?" Kristoff interjected. Naminé and Melbil snickered.

"At least we're better than Anna," Naminé stated.

"Why's that?" Kristoff and Melbil both asked.

"Because she thinks she's in love at frost sight."

-A-D-

 _0920hrs, Arendelle Time_

 _Tuesday, December 23_ _rd_

Anna woke after her nap to water boiling on a campfire and breakfast in the form of dry rations stored in the saddlebags of Melbil and Naminé's mounts, proving once again to her and Kristoff that the other two royals were far more experienced when it came to travelling than Anna was. After feeding and watering themselves and the animals, they set off again in the direction of the north mountain.

They could see Arendelle from where they camped, the city looking like a postcard frosted over in ice and snow in the morning light.

"It's completely frozen," Kristoff noted, voice hushed in awe.

"It looks a little like Radiant Garden right now," Naminé murmured. "But it's actually winter there."

"But it shouldn't," Anna said. "The summer solstice was only a few days ago."

"You mean, solst-ice, right?"

Anna snorted, her sombre mood vanishing. "This way to the north mountain?" she asked Kristoff, pointing north.

"More like, _this_ way," he amended her, rotating her arm to point up.

"Oh, so _that_ mountain is 'the north mountain'. And here I was thinking it could have been any of these mountains," Melbil said, looking up at the tall peak Kristoff pointed out, towering high above all the other mountains in the region.

"Well, at least we know where we're going," Anna pointed out, still pointing at it. "C'mon. Elsa's this way!"

-A-D-

"Well that doesn't sound too bad so far," Sora said, plucking the feathers from the four quail Naminé had procured for him. "You still haven't really explained why I'm cooking these quail for you yet, though."

"Don't worry, I'm getting there. So Kristoff is leading us deeper into the mountains, right? We pass through this grove of frozen willow trees and we run into this really interesting fellow named Olaf, and he is adorable, by the way. He's a walking, talking, snowman who dreams of enjoying summer."

"Sounds suicidal," Sora told her. "You should stay away from that guy."

"No! He's just so sweet and innocent and he has no idea what happens when snow meets heat," Naminé argued, hastening to Olaf's defence. Sora grinned at her, and Naminé punched him in the arm before wincing and pulling back, forgetting that she chose to punch him in his left arm.

Good-naturedly scowling at her lord, she continued. "Olaf was built by Elsa, so apparently that means she can create life and sentient snow creatures. Olaf knew where she was, so he agreed to take us to her when Anna asked."

-A-D-

Naminé nodded along as Anna explained the Kristoff that she was going to get Elsa to bring back summer by simply "having a talk with [her]", looking around at the snow and ice of the summit of the North Mountain that they were now walking on. Long icicles that had somehow grown horizontally littered the rock walls of the passageways Olaf cheerfully led them through, until they reached a cliff-face that barred their path forward. After a couple of minutes of humourously watching Anna attempt to not kill herself rock climbing, Olaf showed them to a staircase that, as he said, "would lead them to exactly where they want to go".

Naminé could only react with awe.

"Wow," she said quietly, moved in more ways than one at the sight of the pristine staircase of ice leading over a gorge to a giant ice castle that glistened with the yellows and pinks of the sunlight as it moved westward through the cloudless sky.

"Now _that's_ ice," Kristoff uttered, amazed. "I think I might cry."

"Go ahead," Anna told him, enamoured by the creation and understanding him completely, "I won't judge."

"Look at that," Naminé marvelled, moving closer to Kristoff as they both followed Anna up the staircase, "it's perfectly flawless."

"I don't think I've ever seen anything quite as amazing," he agreed, running his mittens along the railing. "The detail."

"Although, if she's here all alone," Melbil said with a sinister grin, "I'll bet that she really likes her _ice_ olation."

They left the animals behind by the base of the stairway, each of them overwhelmed by the ice palace that rose high into the sky as they approached the structure's doors, Anna first. She raised her fist towards them, ready to knock to announce their presence.

"Knock," Olaf reminded her as she hesitated. "Just knock. Why isn't she knocking?" he asked, not moving but glancing his eyes to their companions. "Do you think she knows how to knock?" Seemingly galvanized by his questioning, Anna solidly rapped her knuckles against the doors. A second later they swung open with no visible mechanism as to how.

"They opened!" Anna gasped. "That's a first. Hey, um, maybe I should go in by myself for right now."

"Anna," Naminé reminded her, "I have come all this way to seek an audience with your sister."

"And come on," Kristoff begged, "it's a palace made of _ice_! Ice is my life!"

"I know, I know, it's just the last time I introduced her to a guy she froze everything," Anna apologized. "And please understand, your majesty, I want to talk to her first before… just give me a minute."

"Alright, we'll wait here," Naminé said, gesturing to door of the castle. "Good luck." Anna went inside and the doors started to close behind her all on their own.

"One, two, three," Olaf started counting, sitting down on the landing, "four, five…"

Naminé and Melbil glanced at each other as Kristof sat down with the talking snowman and joined in him counting out the seconds to a full minute. "So, what do ye think?" Melbil said, jerking her head towards the closed portal. "Think she'll be able to convince her?"

"Not in the course of a minute, no," Naminé said, glancing down at the snowman who had taken Anna's words of 'a minute' quite literally. "Either way, at least out here away from all the diplomats and courtiers and foreign ministers the two of us will be able to have a frank discussion, especially about all of _this_." She waved her hand up and down in front of the ice castle.

"Think she'll be willing to talk to ye about it?" Melbil inquired. Naminé shrugged.

"Only one way to find out," she replied. "I won't get any answers standing out here, and Anna knows jack about it, so I need to hear it straight from the horse's mouth."

"Which is a weird expression no matter how ye look at it," Melbil stated.

"I know, right? Where did it even come from, anyway? _Most_ horses can't talk. Do you think it really means from a horse rider? Like a messenger?"

"Must be."

"…and sixty!" Olaf exclaimed, jumping up for joy before waddling to the doors and starting to push with his little stick arms and all the might in his snowball body. "Come on! Come on! Open up!"

Rolling his eyes, but smiling a little, Kristof stepped up to the doors above Olaf, and pushed the door open for him. The small snowman seemed to be unaware of the help above him, and happily jumped into the castle's entrance hall. "Elsa! Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

Naminé and Melbil filed in after Kristof and slowly surveyed the room. Habits grown through dungeoneering had them immediately looking for good angles, vantage points, entrances, and exits rather than the immense awe and beauty of the ice castle's construction. Elsa was up on a staircase, radiant in a gown that seemed to have taken the raiment she'd worn at her coronation and brightened it through somehow infusing the crisp white and blue tones of water, snow, and ice. The ice queen of Arendelle spoke throughout their survey, and Naminé kept the brim of her hat pulled down, helping to mask her face. She didn't think it would matter, much, since she looked vastly different from the last time she met with Elsa, but she didn't want to obfuscate matters more until Anna had finished her chat with her sister.

At least Elsa was distracted by being as confused about Olaf being alive as Anna had been, though that did not last long. "Elsa, we were so close," Anna said warmly, "we can be like that again."

"No, we can't." Naminé stopped examining the entrance hall and looked up at where Elsa was standing on the stairway. Her voice had changed. She seemed frightened by the prospect of being close with her sister."Goodbye Anna."

"Elsa wait."

"No! I'm just trying to protect you," Elsa insisted, backing away and retreating up the stairs to the left.

"You don't have to protect me," Anna declared, standing up and following."I'm not afraid! Please don't shut me out again. Please don't slam the door. You don't have to keep your distance anymore; 'cause for the first time in forever I finally understand. For the first time in forever…"

"Oy, we're back to the singing," Naminé murmured, watching Anna chase after Elsa. She turned to Melbil. "I'm going to look around. This palace is amazing. Let me know if anything happens."

"Aye," Melbil said, "I'll go after Anna. I'll shout if we need ye." They nodded and quickly moved up the entrance hall stairway to the landing, trying not to slip along the way. Melbil split off to follow Anna up the left staircase, while Naminé went to the right.

Surrounded by Elsa's ice and looking around in awe and wonderment, Naminé felt a very real chill deep inside. Elsa was _strong_. Her magic was powerful if she was able to create an entire castle of this size and level of detail. "Alright," Naminé said as she walked, and reached down to pull a thin stick of wood out of a garter she had on her left thigh, "let's see what we have here." She reached another landing and a door that led deeper in. The wand in her hand began to glow with orange light at its tip as she moved it around. "Evocation, obviously, and powerful too. I already guessed that, but this confirms it for sure. She's definitely an incredibly powerful sorceress. Based on this level of detail I'm positive it's based more on the popular and simpler systems of magic taught here in the Realm of Light such as power of emotion and imagination like the first kinds of magic we learned or Ur's Ice Make magic, rather than the Olomund style of arcane spellcasting." Naminé pushed open the door, but found herself disappointed by the contents of the room.

Brilliant as the ice was— beautiful as the ice was—it couldn't mask the fact that the room Naminé entered was devoid of substance. It was a circular chamber, leading nowhere but out the way she came. There was a bed—also ice—in the room, and a curious creation that looked like sheets made of snow on the bed, but nothing else. A sound from behind her interrupted Naminé's ability to explore more, as echoing through the castle was the loud yell of her dwarf companion calling for her.

"Fuck," cursed the archmage as she spun on her heel and swiftly stabbed her wand back into the garter beneath her robes. "What's going on?" Without a moment to spare, Naminé cast a spell that would allow her to fly for a time and leapt off the staircase so that she could head for the opposite one. She landed and hustled into what was a similar chamber to the one she'd just come from, except that it was devoid of anything beyond its supporting pillars and led out to a balcony above the castle entrance."Alright, what's going on here?" Naminé said, pointedly looking at the room's occupants. Anna was being helped up by Kristoff, Melbil, and Olaf, the tension in the room was palpable, and Arendelle's princess was holding her arms to her chest like she was hurt or cold. Well, colder than usual. Elsa was opposite them, looking more anxious than anything else while casting glances at her bare hands in front of her.

Naminé narrowed her eyes at Elsa. Had she hurt Anna? That didn't match the feeling Naminé had gotten from her back at the post-coronation party in Arendelle. That Elsa had wanted her sister to be happy and find real true love. _That_ Elsa had also been wearing a gown and cloak in the colours of Arendelle and bearing stylized crocuses, their crest. _This_ Elsa had none of that, wearing an elegant ice-blue and white ballroom gown and train that emphasized the beauty of ice and snow, with the tiara she had been crowned with nowhere to be seen.

"Who are you?" Elsa demanded, but spoke again before Naminé could answer. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. You can all leave. I don't need any more visitors."

Naminé stopped as if slapped in the face. She had had many dealings with nobility and royalty in the past three years, and had gotten used to most if not all of them having a level of deportment that if they wanted to let her know that she had overstayed her welcome they were at least generally civil and tactful in their dismissal of her. Either Elsa had no patience for the courtly etiquette of a sitting monarch or she felt her flight from Arendelle to the height of the North Mountain meant she no longer required manners.

Even as scared of her power as she seemed to be, and as much as she had cast aside the regalia she had worn when she fled the castle, Naminé felt it was her duty to remind Elsa who she was, for the sake of the kingdom that hers had once called an ally, and she hoped would one day do so again. Running away didn't mean she stopped being who she was; _what_ she was.

Sweeping the hat from her head and grasping the sides of her blue robes, Naminé went into an elegant full courtesy of obeisance as she had been trained, far more than she had done at their first meeting. "My humblest and sincerest apologies, Your Majesty, but Queen Naminé Talerith of the House of Talerith of Radiant Garden requests an audience with your most royal personage with the utmost of haste." She rose back up and straightened her back, peering coolly at Elsa.

"You," Elsa softly gasped in recognition.

"That's 'Your Majesty,' ma'am," Naminé corrected her. "And my saying that I was requesting an audience was to formally honour protocol. It was not a request; I _will_ be meeting with you."

"No, you won't," Elsa told her amidst the rumbling sound of creaking ice that began above them and started to come from all around as the ceiling and pillars started to darken.

 _So I was correct,_ Naminé surmised, her gaze flitting around and taking it in. _Her magic_ is _influenced by emotion. How troublesome._ "You are in no position to deny me, Queen Elsa," Naminé refuted. "Have I not travelled here, over hill and under tree? Through deep drift and frozen stream, wolf-harried, to protect your sister Anna all so that we may speak with thee? Nay, Queen Elsa. This is a request that you've no power to deny another queen."

"I appreciate you keeping my sister safe," Elsa countered. "But you've wasted your time, Naminé. It doesn't matter what you have to say to me, you're all safer and better off leaving me here alone."

Melbil spat. "Ma'am," she said to Naminé. "I'm insulted on your behalf."

"Anna we should probably go," Kristoff said anxiously, looking up at the continuously darkening and internally cracking ice.

"No, no, I'm not leaving without you, Elsa!" Anna pleaded.

Her words fell on deaf ears. "Yes, you are!" With a shout, Elsa thrust her hands at the floor, a blast of white streaking from her slender digits before striking the frozen water upon which they stood. Snow emerged and swirled around as something began to take shape, white powder forming and rising up as a huge golem of ice and snow came into being, its eyes glowing blue before sinking back into its head.

Melbil reached for the hilt of her Keyblade to pull it from its sheath while glancing to Naminé. "What should we do?"

"Nothing," Naminé answered. "We play along. I'll be back, Queen Elsa," she said loudly as Elsa retreated down a corridor from this room, "and sooner than you think."

"Leave!"

The snow golem, Marshmallow, scooped them all up in its giant icicle hands. "Just go limp," Naminé said, squished between Melbil and Olaf. "It'll be easier." Anna and Kristoff didn't appear to be listening, as both of them were panicking and yelling as they were carried down the stairs by the big, bulky abominable snow monster all the way back to the entrance.

"Stop! Put us down!" Anna demanded once they were back outside.

"Go away," Marshmallow ordered in a low-pitched moaning voice, and he threw Anna and Kristoff down the icicle staircase that spanned the gorge before transferring Naminé and Melbil to his newly empty hand and lobbing them down in the same manner.

"Head's up!" Olaf shouted, warning them as his head came flying towards them, landing in the snow that covered a boulder right behind where the four of them were just getting back to their feet. "Watch out for my butt!" Naminé yelped as she ducked, just avoiding getting hit by Olaf's torso and lower body after Marshmallow threw them separately at them.

"Well that could have gone a lot better," Melbil muttered, dusting herself off.

"Oh it is not nice to _throw_ people!" Anna shouted, gathering snow into her hands and packing it into a snowball.

"Whoa whoawhoawhoawhoa feisty pants!" Kristoff yelped, leaping up and grabbing Anna by the arm in an attempt to calm her down, or at least hold her back. "Just relax! Calm down. Calm down!"

"Alright! Alright," Anna said. "I'm okay."

"Just let the snowman be."

"I'm calm," Anna calmly assured him, and Kristoff let her go. Anna immediately turned around and threw her snowball at Marshmallow, everyone around her looking at her in exasperation.

Marshmallow did not appear to like being attacked, albeit by a pathetic little snowball, one bit. His eyes regain their demonic blue light, and icicle spikes emerged all over his back and body.

"See? Now you made him mad."

"You guys go! I'll distract him!" Olaf offered.

"Thanks!" Melbil said, and she grabbed Kristoff while Naminé grabbed Anna and they both made a break for a grove of spruce trees.

"I can run on my own!" Anna protested.

Naminé let go. "Alright then. Melbil!"

"Aye?"

"We're splitting the party!"

"Aye! You do what you need to, Naminé. I'll keep them safe."

Naminé broke left from the rest of the group and quickly placed her hands together as she sped away. "Ice-Make, Clone!" An ice copy of herself burst into existence a few feet away from her and quickly rushed off to rejoin her companions, hopefully serving as a sufficient distraction to Elsa's snowman that it wouldn't notice that the real Naminé was doubling back to the castle.

 _Okay, before I do this, I need to take stock of the situation. Elsa has been able to create this entire castle, freeze a fjord, force winter onto an entire geographical area in the height of early summer, and can create sentient golems out of snow and ice. I came here planning to talk to her, not fight her, so I don't have very many combat spells prepared that won't kill her outright. As strong as she is, I don't think she can take much of a beating. If things go south I'll try to rely on the magic of the Realm of Light and spells less powerful than my cold lightning blast to incapacitate her._

Her ploy having worked, Naminé now stood before the doors to the castle once again, prepared to enter it a second time and confront Arendelle's queen one-on-one without interruption or distraction. She was about to open the door before she stopped, eyes going wide.

"Shoot! I almost forgot!" Naminé withdrew her Keyblade from its sheath and put her hand into the bag of holding that her Keyblade had absorbed. She withdrew a steel ring with a moonstone set in the centre and placed it on her finger, and instantly felt warmed. "Okay. I've got my ring of frost warding in place, now to cast a protection spell to keep me safe from Elsa's ice before I go in." She quickly cast the spell, withdrew her staff from the pouch of holding where she'd stashed it, sheathed her Keyblade, and waited another few moments before politely knocking and opening the doors.

"Excuse me," Naminé said softly upon entering and closed the doors behind her. The entrance hall looked exactly as it had a few minutes ago, barring the fact that she was no longer being carried by a giant snowman who had icicles for fingers. Soft footsteps entered her ears, and she saw Elsa coming down the stairs towards the landing above and in front of Naminé.

"The courtesy of your new castle towards its guests is very frosty, Queen Elsa," Naminé accused her, confidently striding towards the closest stairs that would take her up to meet her equal. Her staff rapped loudly on the icy floor of the palace. "I expected a warmer reception."

"Why have you come back?" Elsa asked her, voice almost transitioning to a snarl as she scowled at Naminé. "I told you to leave."

"I told you I'd be back, ma'am," Naminé replied, smirking triumphantly, "and it's not like I could just leave a fellow queen alone when she's behaving like my beloved's toddler," Naminé snapped dismissively. She stopped moving and gazed up at Elsa, the slightly elder royal standing upon the first landing of her grand staircase. "I must admit that you've done remarkably well up here, considering…"

"Considering what?" Elsa queried, rolling her eyes in disdain.

"Considering that you have been here for four days and I see no signs of your ice palace having any real furniture, or kitchen, or any scrap of evidence to support that you've eaten a single bite since leaving Arendelle."

Naminé's words almost seemed prophetic, as at the exact moment she finished speaking there was a quiet rumble that filled the entrance hall of the snow queen's constructed castle, sourced directly from Elsa's stomach. Elsa's pale cheeks turned red in a hurry and she glared at Naminé. "Leave, Naminé. I wish to remain alone."

"I will not, ma'am," Naminé replied, beginning to move towards the stairs again. "And that's another thing. Why do you continue to disrespect me? Are you not the sovereign, speaking to another sovereign? Or do you feel that because you have run off here, abandoning all of your responsibilities and royal duties to your kingdom and its people, you feel that etiquette and good manners are things that you no longer need to observe?"

"Stay back!" Elsa demanded. "I'm warning you!"

Naminé chose not to heed her and continued, now starting up the stairs. "Like I chastised the Duke of Weselton on Friday after you'd fled when he kept calling you a monster, I don't care if you don't care much for me as an individual but you should still respect the office that I hold. At the very least, your majesty, please refer to me in the same manner until we are close enough to be on a first name basis."

When she was half-way up the stairs Naminé made sure she got a good look at Elsa's face as Elsa held her hands close to her chest, but open and directed towards Naminé. There was anger in there, but that red face was becoming whiter as her fear made its presence known. Naminé realized that she had been making all the right moves without even noticing itand that they were working. She was advancing fearlessly towards Elsa, something only Anna had done before, _and_ she had continuously been reminding Elsa of both of their royal positions, meaning that if Elsa struck out in anger against Naminé that any potential retribution would be a diplomatic snowball that would have not only herself, but her beloved Arendelle facing punitive action.

Naminé softened her tone and slowed her ascent up the stairs. "Let me help you, your majesty. You cannot hurt me."

"What power do you have to stop me?" Elsa asked, guarded. "This curse, I can't control it. I can't stop this winter."

"You _can_ stop this winter, Queen Elsa," Naminé insisted, nearing the landing while Elsa now backed away. "This power of yours doesn't rule you, you rule _it_! You used it to build this castle; to make Olaf. It is a beautiful and magnificent gift."

"Gift? This is a curse!" Elsa screamed. "All it's ever done is make my life worse. I'm not going back to Arendelle, and I've already told you that you're not welcome here, now leave me in peace!"

Elsa cast her right hand out towards Naminé, a large blast of blue magical power of the Snow Queen heading straight for her. Snow and frigid wind swirled around it, and icicles grew out from the walls it passed by in its rapid flight to strike Naminé.

An amethyst from the plumage of the eagle at the top of Naminé's staff glowed brightly, and Elsa's blast disappeared entirely before it even reached the other royal.

Elsa stared at her, completely stunned, as Naminé now stepped onto the landing. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she could hear the blood in her ears. Only because of everything she'd experienced was she able to keep a mask of calm on her face, but she could hear her blood raging in her ears. Adrenaline was now running full-tilt in her bloodstream. "You… actually did it," Naminé remarked. "You actually turned your magic against me, even if it meant that our two nations might go to war over it. A part of me hoped that you didn't have it in you."

"Queen Naminé," Elsa gasped.

"So you acknowledge me now?" Naminé queried with a wry smile. "Good, because if you're up for it, how about a friendly little spell-duel?"

"What are you?" Elsa asked back. " _Who_ are you? Do you have powers too?" Naminé grinned and ran off the landing of the grand staircase. Her flying spell was still active, and so she flew another fifteen feet higher into the air and turned around to face Elsa as she hovered above her.

"Why do you think I came to you in these robes, Queen Elsa of Arendelle?" Naminé answered with a rhetorical question of her own. "I am Naminé Talerith, Queen of Radiant Garden, the Shield Star Wielder of the Moon of the Legendary Keyblade Wielders of Power, and the archmage of the Fearless Wolves! For my entire existence I have been embroiled in combat. If you think you can defeat me, then hit me with everything you have!"

Elsa shook her head and backed away, nearly slipping as her feet reached the stairs leading to the upper chambers. Even more ice and the appearance of frost started to cake the walls, sharp icicles manifesting from the supporting pillars, balustrades, buttresses, and walls. Red light creeped into the ice that started creaking ominously, making Naminé furtively glance around as the beauty and splendour of Elsa's entrance hall foreshadowed a dark, malevolent atmosphere.

 _Should I goad her into attacking, or should I let this pass?_ Naminé wondered, barely hearing Elsa whispering to herself, the other woman's hands on the sides of her head as if that would help her focus, but clearly not on the task Naminé had just set for her. "Ice-Make, Gryphon! Ice-Make, Hippogryph!" Forming in the air in front of Naminé from her moulding magic came two animated ice creatures. Her ice gryphon flew to the staircase to the left that Elsa seemed to want to retreat up, while the hippogryph flew to the one on the right to block her path should she choose to turn that way. Elsa gasped as she found her way obstructed by the mythical creature made of ice that was larger than she was tall, and with it being several stairs higher than her, seemed all the bigger. The gryphon made no overtly threatening actions, but it did bluff a charge and scream through its beak to check Elsa's withdrawal.

"What's wrong, ma'am?" Naminé taunted, slowly weaving from side-to-side. "I'm giving you the perfect excuse for you to use your powers freely as you wish. There's no need to hold back like you did in Arendelle. If you keep trying to bottle it up like this, it'll be the end of you."

"What do you know of it!?" Elsa snapped, rushing back to the landing since her path was blocked. "You don't—!" She nearly choked on her next gasp as her power discharged from her hand and struck the railing at the edge of the landing overlooking the frozen fountain and the front doors below. The balustrade became encased in ice and thick spears rapidly formed and extended towards Naminé in order to impale her flying body upon them. Naminé knew she could have dodged, or blocked in some manner, but she also knew that she could take it. Her body crumpled as the ice spears struck her in the chest, but she felt no chill from the attack, nor did the icicles penetrate even the fabric of her robes. Elsa gasped, but all Naminé felt was like she'd taken a punch to her chest that she'd been completely prepared for.

Two seconds after deliberately folding inward from the strike, Naminé slid to her right around the now motionless icicle and resumed floating in the air, revealing to Elsa that she was unharmed. "You see, that's what I mean," she told Elsa. "Don't fight your powers, ma'am, embrace them! You are a sorceress. Your magic is a part of you. If all you do is fear its power then that fear will haunt and rule you forever."

"Don't lecture me like you know me!" Elsa shouted, anger now clearly at the forefront of her visage, replacing the earlier fear. She threw her hands out towards Naminé, this time sending a concentrated blast at her flying opponent. Naminé again chose to take the hit, laughing as her earlier measures to protect herself absorbed Elsa's magic and prevented any harm from coming to her. Elsa launched another couple of blasts from her hands at Naminé, with Naminé dodging both of these to see what would happen. They struck the opposite wall, forming large crystals of ice that stretched out like half-snowflakes for about five feet. It seemed that when Elsa was conscious about using her powers then she had control over them, but when she was fearfully trying to suppress them they flared up in unexpected ways.

"Is that all?" Naminé teased, swooping down to the ground and landing on her booted feet. "It's not even worth calling a chill breeze." _Are you kidding me? That one blast used up nearly half of my elemental protection!_ "Now I suppose it's my tur—!" Naminé jumped aside as another blast struck the floor, producing a lunging icicle lance just like the ones up above. _Damn. She is troublesome,_ Naminé realized while rolling to avoid another icicle spike. _Instant casting without verbal or material components or magic focuses, and it's all powerful to boot! It doesn't help that I'm handicapping myself by not using my powerful spells because I don't want her dead._

She whistled, and her gryphon and hippogryph now leapt forward to enter the fray. Elsa whirled around to deal with them, each creature deadly in their own right, but combined they made a formidable force any combat novice would be a fool to engage with any degree of levity. While they kept Elsa busy, forcing her to erect walls of ice to hold them at bay, Naminé created an invisible shield to help protect her from more icicle spears Elsa was liable to create, and then flew back into the sky. She switched the staff to her left hand and pointed it at Elsa's back while also drawing her Keyblade from its sheath on her left hip. Her creations were breaking apart the ice walls Elsa had erected between them, still unable to reach her for the moment, but she was still distracted. One of the sapphires in the haft of her staff glowed as Naminé cast the spell stored inside. A cyan ray of light emerged from the eagle staff, streaking towards Elsa.

Hearing Naminé's chant in the strange tongue, Elsa whirled back around in time to see the cyan magic strike her in the chest. She shivered, the coldness of the ray chilling even her, and gasped as the coldness travelled down her body to her feet. Ice formed around them, keeping her frozen in place. She hastily shot her power out of her hands, flinging magic at Naminé and at the ground in front of her, sending a barrage of spikes at the flying Ice Queen.

Another amethyst glowed in Naminé's staff, dispelling Elsa's blast, and Naminé warded off the spikes both with her shield spell and her Keyblade, dodging and slicing them up as she weaved through the air. The gryphon and hippogryph succeeded in breaking through Elsa's ice walls, and Naminé chose now to advance on the Snow Queen.

 _I've pushed her into a corner. Now to see how she handles it this time._

Fear again seemed to take over Elsa's eyes, realizing truly that she was up against someone who also held powers and was far more experienced in using them in dangerous situations. Snow started to form and swirl around Elsa as despair came crushing down upon her. The ice gryphon and hippogryph loomed large at her back, and Naminé was flying towards her bearing sword and staff. This was her sanctuary. She hadn't asked for this to happen. Naminé had just barged in here uninvited and started this. All Elsa wanted was to be left alone up here on the mountain, where she couldn't hurt anyone with her powers. All the indignity, anger, relief in finding out she wasn't alone, and despair in knowing she was outclassed by that same intruder welled up inside her and burst out in one massive blast as Elsa shouted, "STAY BACK!"

The snowflakes whirling around her turned to icicles, at first striking anything in their path before being expelled spherically outwards from Elsa, immediately followed by a rolling wave of ice.

"Oh fuck," Naminé cursed, wincing as she took the hits from a couple of the icicles that did not shatter against her shield. "Blizzagun! Firagun! Reflegun!" An ice boulder rocketed out of her Keyblade's tip to smash into the ice wave, which had extended the landing above the staircase into a balcony in order to reach her as she flew, and Naminé's second spell wreathed her in a cloak of intense flame which she concentrated in a shell in front of her. As an added precaution, she tossed in a maximized reflect spell just behind her fire shell. There was a great crashing sound as the powers struck one another, the familiar noise of shattering ice entering her ears over the roar and crackle of her flames.

A few seconds passed. The wave hadn't reached her third line of defence. Naminé dropped both the fire and reflect spells to take in the results. Ice shards littered the area on the ground around her. It looked like her boulder had done its job, tearing through the icicle spikes that had been in its path and breaking both itself and the wave on its path to Naminé. Her flames had produced enough heat to begin melting some of the icicles that were close-by that her boulder hadn't smashed to bits, and the fountain down below her had been crushed by the fallout. Elsa's feet were no longer shackled to the ground in ice, and Naminé's gryphon and hippogryph lay in pieces behind the stairs, the icicle strikes and wave having crushed them. Elsa herself was on the ground, lying on her side and unmoving.

"Queen Elsa!" Naminé gasped, and flew to her elder stateswoman's side immediately. "Are you alright?" She didn't seem injured, but her not responding to touch still made Naminé anxious. She was breathing at least, but her unconscious state was worrisome. "She had changed the weather of the entire region and it hadn't depleted her enough to make her pass out," Naminé reasoned aloud. "By that standard she has an almost limitless wellspring of magical power from which to draw from. So why would she fall—?"

A loud gurgle came from Elsa's abdomen, and a slight moan from the seemingly unconscious woman reminded Naminé of one crucial fact. "Hun-y…"

-A-D-

"And that's my story," Naminé finished. Sora looked up from finishing plating the two meals he had made from Naminé's quail. It looked absolutely delicious and smelled so good Naminé couldn't stop salivating with the desire to eat right now. Two perfectly roasted quail to a plate on a bed of wild mushroom and garlic risotto and accompanied by steamed asparagus, buttered and lightly dusted in freshly cracked black pepper.

Kairi yawned, sitting backwards on a chair and resting her head on its back. "Cool story, sis, but couldn't you have told it in a way that didn't make it feel as long as watching _Attack of the Clones_ without being allowed to skip the horrible Anakin and Padmé romantic subplot scenes?"

-A-D-

 _And there we have it, the 9_ _th_ _chapter of_ _ **Cornerstones**_ _. Please feel free to drop a review, check out the Discord server or Facebook pages, and generally tell me how you feel about this one. I can't promise that I'll be able to pump out chapters faster, but I'll certainly try to._

 _As always,_

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


	10. Arendelle III

_And on to Part III of Arendelle!_

 _Normal disclaimer nonsense_

-A-D

 **Cornerstones**

Chapter 10: Arendelle III

 _2055hrs,_

 _Tuesday, December 23_ _rd_ _, 1674 Aurus (Radiant Garden) Reckoning_

 _North Mountain, Arendelle, Aurus_

Naminé softly moaned in pleasure as hot juices ran down her tongue towards the back of her mouth, rushing out of the meat she had just bit into as the crispy skin broke. The cooked fat in the quail's skin and meat provided a rush of flavour accented wonderfully through Sora's choices of herbs and spices, and complimented by the risotto and asparagus he had prepared to go along with the quail. He had prepared this type of dish several times before back in Olomund, but it was exciting tasting it anew with Arendelle mountain quail and spices and vegetables grown by the elves of Rivendell. Naminé's hat and the cuirass she had worn almost non-stop for several days were off to the side, removed to properly relax and enjoy the wonderful meal Sora had prepared.

To Elsa, who hadn't eaten in days, the meal was like a gift from the heavens, and she made no restraint to devour it in as well-mannered a way as possible. She had truly regained consciousness when the scent of the cooked fowl and its sides had wafted into her nostrils, and Naminé had led her back upstairs, after doing some minor repair work to the stairways, to an ice table and chairs she had created for them to eat at. The Snow Queen didn't even have the presence of mind to object anymore to Naminé's presence, or to question the appearance of two other people in the room who simply stood in silence and watched as they ate.

Swallowing down the final bite of meat and bone from her first quail, Elsa inhaled and looked up at Naminé, seated just across from her at the small square table. "This is absolutely delicious," she complimented her. "Did you cook this?"

Naminé shook her head, swallowing, and reached for the goblet of wine she had. "No, I didn't. I couldn't cook something like this. That would be my lord's doing."

Elsa frowned in confusion. "Your lord?"

Naminé sipped her red wine. "Him," she replied, nodding her head back to where Sora was standing.

"B-but you're a queen," Elsa remarked. "How?"

"Well, back before I became a queen, I pledged my personal fealty and service to him," Naminé explained. "Because in some ways he outranks me, and so back then I decided that those ways were ultimately more important. By the way, I'm sorry I was so rude to you earlier, Queen Elsa. You were scared and confused and I kept charging forward bluntly insisting on etiquette and protocol."

"Protocol? Why it's my primary function, sir," Kairi whispered quietly from the side where she stood with Sora. "I am well versed in all the customs."

"I have no need for a protocol droid…"

"Please, Queen Naminé, it's alright," Elsa replied softly, not hearing Kairi or Sora banter and putting down her silverware and looking deeply at her plate. "You were right. I haven't been acting like a queen very much at all recently, and you were right to remind me of the fact that I'm still Queen of Arendelle, even if I'm up here on this mountain."

"Well, I am glad that we could agree on that," Naminé said. "Now then, about this power of yours, I'd like to help you out."

"You… want to help me?" Elsa asked, surprised. "You're not frightened of me? Of what I can do?"

"Gods, no, I'm not frightened," Naminé replied. She saw Sora and Kairi giving her looks. "Okay, well, maybe I _dread_ what you can do when you put your mind to it and have control of it, but I don't actually fear _you_. I respect that you have great powers, and that those powers have the potential to be devastating if used for such a purpose." Elsa's cheeks grew pale, and Naminé realized that she misspoke.

"Your majesties," Sora broke in. "Might I inquire as to how you are finding the meal?" Elsa and Naminé both looked to him, and stutteringly began speaking before managing to adequately praise him for his cooking skill and services in providing the meal. "Thank you," Sora sincerely spoke, "I'm glad that you're enjoying it. When you're done, Kairi and I will take your dishes and leave you two alone."

"You're leaving?" Naminé asked.

"This one's your problem, Naminé," Sora said. "I cooked you dinner; that's the extent of my help here."

"But what if she can't help?" Elsa asked. "I can't stop this winter. I don't know how!"

"You'll find a way," Kairi said. "Trust me, I know. My sister knows magic way better than anyone else in our friend circle does, except perhaps our teachers."

"Your sister?" Elsa blinked. "Kairi… I recognize your name."

"You should, your majesty," Kairi replied. "Had I not very recently abdicated my position as crown princess of Radiant Garden, Sora and I would have been the ones meeting you for your coronation and not my lovely sister and her beau. We can have a more formal meeting later, when we're all not so busy."

"Please, just call me Elsa," requested Arendelle's queen. "You've seen me at my lowest. At this point I don't find a need to stand on ceremony."

"Then you may call us by our first names, Elsa," Naminé replied pleasantly. "Let's start over. I'm Naminé, this is my older twin sister Kairi, and her boyfriend, Sora."

"Who happens to be an amazing cook," Kairi added, affectionately bumping him with a swing of her hips.

"Elsa, why don't you tell us about these powers of yours?" Sora asked. "Please, keep eating. We don't want it to get cold, considering…" he glanced around, surrounded by ice.

Elsa sighed and followed Sora's suggestion to keep dining on the meal he'd prepared. "It's quite a story, I'll let you know. Not even Anna knows about it; at least, not anymore." The three looked at her quizzically and Elsa continued. "I was born with these powers," she explained. "I could make ice and snow just out of my hands. I could create a ball of winter magic in front of me and cause a room to start snowing; by tapping my foot on the ground I could make ice form and create a skating pond. I could make anything I imagined out of ice and snow in an instant. I could build snowmen, like Olaf." Elsa paused, seemingly lost at what to say.

"I sense a 'but' coming on," Naminé added leadingly. Elsa shook her head.

"Not exactly. This was when I was still a child. Anna knew about my powers; and of course our parents did as well as most of the staff. We were practically inseparable, and Anna was just as much a bundle of joy then as she is now. We played all the time, and she always knew that I loved using my powers to play with her. Then one night we were playing in the ballroom, and Anna was moving too fast jumping from snow pile to snow pile and I slipped and accidentally struck her head." Elsa shivered. "She fell asleep. Her body grew cold and a braid of her red hair turned blonde. I got scared, and ice started taking over the whole room. Our parents took us to a group of trolls (Elsa missed the immediate looks of shock on the faces of the other three) and their elder was able to fix what I'd done to Anna by removing the ice in her head through removing all memory of magic. Anna forgot I had powers at all, and my father promised the elder that I would control my powers so that they wouldn't hurt anyone."

Naminé fixed her expression into something neutral, but her mind had just exploded. A troll? A troll who used memory manipulation!? She needed to see this person!

Elsa looked down at her hands, bare of the gloves she had worn constantly but days ago. "But I didn't! I can't stop feeling, and now I've plunged Arendelle into eternal winter and hurt Anna!" She put her head in her hands and the others could start to hear the ice in the walls creak.

Naminé glanced around again, eyes darting to the sources of the sound, before rising from her chair. She heard Sora muttering to Kairi that Yvette would likely love to meet Elsa, but she ignored it as she approached him with her goblet. "Mulled mead." Sora chuckled and reached into a bag of holding.

"You are just demanding today," he said, shaking his head as he took the goblet from Naminé and retrieved what she asked. He quickly used judicious application of a fire spell to warm the drink and passed it back to his vassal. She thanked him quietly and placed the goblet down in front of Elsa, distracting her.

"Drink up," Naminé instructed her elder. "You'll feel better. This always warms me up nicely."

Elsa tentatively took the goblet from the table and held it in her hands, looking anxiously at the golden liquid from which warm water vapour visibly rose. "The cold doesn't bother me."

Naminé waited until Elsa took a sip. "Me neither, however I still prefer being warm, and… maybe that's the issue here."

"Hm?" Elsa asked. Her face had brightened. "This is _good_. I need to formally invite you to work in Arendelle, Sora," she said. "I wish I could have you preparing meals for me every day. No, wait, you're probably working in Radiant Garden. Naminé, how much would it take for you to agree for him to work for me instead of you?"

Sora and Kairi both laughed while Naminé simply stared at Elsa. "No, no, Elsa, it's not like that," Naminé said quickly. "Have you forgotten already? Sora doesn't work for me. I work for him! He was doing me a favour when he agreed to cook the meal and prepare the wine and mead just now."

Elsa blushed and took another sip. "Oh, sorry. Still, this is really, really good. I'm envious. Yes, you were saying something?"

Naminé sighed and took off her wizard's hat. "How have you tried controlling your powers, your 'curse' (she said with air quotes) until now?"

"My father gave me a pair of gloves," Elsa replied. "My power usually comes from my hands. If I concealed my powers and kept my feelings in check, I would be able to keep it under control and not hurt anyone with it."

"Kept your feelings in check?"

"It gets worse and harder to control when I get emotional," Elsa answered. "Ever since I hurt Anna when we were kids I've been trying to control it, but it's been so difficult that I—"

"Drink," Naminé reminded her, and Elsa took another swig from the warm mulled mead. Her cheeks warmed and expression eased. The pieces were all coming together, from what she had already experienced prior to fighting her and now, speaking with her. "I think that's the issue, Elsa."

Elsa blinked a couple of times, her mind clearly attempting to grasp what Naminé just said. "What do you mean? What's the issue?"

"Your magic," Naminé said, starting to walk back and forth, the explanation forming on her lips and she paced. "Your magic comes from within and is fuelled by your emotions, and you never had any troubles controlling it when you were young, right? It was always at your beck and call, ready to do whatever you asked of it at your convenience, yes?"

Elsa nodded. "Yes, that's right, but all of that changed after—"

"After you hurt your sister, yes. That's when, for the very first time, you were made aware of just how great a power you had been born with was and how it could, if used improperly, bring devastation and untold destruction. You then pledged that you would learn to control your power, and ever since you've been trying to do just that: to tame it and control it. However, you can't, not the way things are now, because you've never actually _needed_ to!"

"What do you mean?" Sora broke in, before Elsa could. "I'm sorry, Naminé, but I don't get it."

"How could you not?" Naminé decried him. "It's so simple it's elegant! Elsa, you had absolutely no problems building this castle, right? Building the Olaf who's now walking around with Anna and talking? It's because you stopped thinking about your power as something that needed to be suppressed and controlled, bound and chained. You embraced it as a part of you and let it free to work its wonders at your command. By being afraid of it for all these years you let your fear of hurting anyone with it rule you, but this magic of yours is as much an extension of yourself as your own arm is. Being afraid of it is as silly as being afraid of your own hand."

"But look at what it's done, Naminé," Elsa countered, "what _I've_ done. I've caused Arendelle in the height of summer to become encased in winter! I've hurt Anna; I tried to hurt _you_!"

"And I appreciate you trying, Elsa, but I was never in any real danger," Naminé replied. "Trust me. If I'd wanted to fight you for real you'd be in a hospital bed right now."

"No she wouldn't. You'd have taken her to Rivendell instead of the quail and you'd be having _me_ heal her," Kairi corrected her.

"Point taken," Naminé agreed. "Elsa, listen. Despite all that your power has caused, it isn't an evil, malevolent thing. It's simply reacting to your emotional state. When Anna pulled off your glove and was trying to convince you that she wanted to marry Hans you were angry and wanted her to back off, and because you've been trying so hard to reign your power in it responded to your feelings and made a ring of ice spikes around you to get her to back away. It's been going off so much because you're afraid of it and have been trying not to use it. But deep down, it's responding to your wishes because you actually _really_ want to use it. It froze the fjord because you wanted to escape; it made Marshmallow because you wanted someone to protect you and make us go away."

"So what do you suggest then?" Elsa asked.

Naminé stopped pacing and turned to face her. "Stop fighting it," she answered. "That's gotten you nowhere for more than a decade. Become who you were born to be, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, the Snow Queen. Your powers are a part of you, but they do not define you and they do not rule you, just as mine do not rule me."

Elsa's fingers curled inwards as she looked at them, biting her lip. "I don't know if I can do that. I've been afraid for so long, but… but I wasn't when I made this castle. I felt free; when I made it up here I felt like I was finally able to be who I wanted to be and to live my life free from the fear of hurting others with my powers."

"Then that's exactly it," Kairi broke in. "Don't fear it. Listen, I know it sounds crazy for all of us to tell you something like that like it's the simplest thing in the world, but it really is. Here, see this?" Kairi drew her Keyblade out from its sheath at her side. "Look, it's a sword, right? It can hurt people, right? Are you scared of it?"

Elsa shook her head and glanced between the blade and Kairi. "N-no. Why should I be?"

"And why aren't you scared?" Kairi asked. Elsa shrugged, trying to understand what Kairi was trying to get at.

"I… I don't know. Because it's just a sword?" Elsa answered naïvely. "It can't hurt me unless…"

"Unless _I_ make it hurt you, yes," Kairi finished. "And even if I were to hurt you with this by accident, so long as it isn't terribly fatal, you can still be healed through TLC... and, well, healing magic."

"TLC?"

"Tender loving care," Kairi replied. Elsa stood up straighter, as if she had just realized how a group of puzzle pieces fit together, and Kairi smiled. "Well Sora, I think our work here is done. Let's get the dishes and get back to Rivendell. By the way, Naminé?"

"Yes Kairi?"

"You came here with Roxas, right?"

Naminé nodded. "Yes, we did."

"Where is he?" Naminé opened her mouth, about to answer that question, when a loud roar came from outside.

"Well, I guess that's our cue to skidoo," Sora said, quickly grabbing their dishes while Kairi worked to open the portal back to Rivendell. "Have fun!"

-A-D-

 _0730hrs,_

 _Same day_

 _Woods outside of Arendelle Castle Town, Arendelle, Aurus_

"Fuck the cold."

"You said it."

"Been stuck here in eternal winter for _three days_ when it's supposed to be summer! Where's the sun? Where's the heat? Where are the girls in skimpy swimwear on pristine beaches?"

"Aren't you married?"

"I can still _look_ , not that anyone is better looking than my wife."

Eugene scoffed at Roxas' assessment. "Sounding pretty confident there, Roxas. You do know that Rapunzel and Princess Anna are both pretty cute, and Queen Elsa is quite elegant and beautiful."

"My wife Shina is the most beautiful creature to have ever walked on this world, and our daughter Iroviel is the cutest little girl you've ever seen!" Roxas retorted.

"You already have a daughter?"

"She is the most wonderful 'oops' of my life."

Roxas and Eugene were trading barbs about the cold this wonderful Tuesday morning as they left the comforts of the city to help the men of Arendelle chop up more firewood to heat their homes. Roxas dug his hand into his pocket and withdrew a photo he'd had taken of Shina and Iroviel before he left with Naminé. Presenting it to Eugene with a half-melted smug look after fondly gazing at the picture, Roxas said, "Take a look at that and disagree with me. I dare you."

Eugene took the photo from Roxas, surprised at the quality of what he took to be a miniature portrait, and had to put down his axe. "Hnnnnn!" he groaned, clutching his chest while gripping the photo tightly between his thumb and forefinger of his right hand. " _Too cute…!_ " he gasped. He placed his left arm over his eyes, scrunching up his facial muscles, and held the picture out to Roxas. "Take it back. Take it back. My eyes, they cannot handle it! It's too bright!"

The proud husband and father took the picture of his family back and softly stroked his finger along the edge. Iroviel was smiling and laughing in the photo, dressed in a cute white and butter yellow dress, and Shina smiling and holding up their blonde-haired daughter in her arms. Their identical gold-flecked silvery grey eyes revealed just how happy they were. Feeling a lump in his throat, Roxas wiped his wrist against the underside of his eyes before putting the photo away. It was freezing out here. It was bad enough that his beard was getting frosted over with every breath; he didn't need to add frozen eyelashes to the list. "She's turning two soon," Roxas said, picking up his axe again and setting some wood up on the chopping block. "And she can even speak in sentences sometimes! Iroviel is just so adorable!"

"What about those ears?" Eugene asked.

"She gets them from her mother. Weren't they just the cutest things?"

Briefly, Roxas realized that he was absolutely gushing about how cute his daughter was, but he rationalized that as acceptable. No child could be more adorable than his.

-A-D-

 _Amestris_

Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes sat up straight in his desk, startling the others in the office at the suddenness of his movements. His face hardened, frightening those who looked on.

"Is everything alright… sir?"

Hughes flashed the offender who spoke a sharp glare. His scowl was intense. "I feel a disturbance in the Force," he stated, his voice low and serious, filled with a passion that evoked a dread sense of death to any who opposed the Lt. Colonel. "There's some dad out there who thinks his daughter is cuter than Elicia, and that just won't do."

While the rest of the office took a beat to process what Hughes just said, the man in question grabbed the phone and started shouting into it. "Operator! This is Hughes! Get me the photo company! Yes! I need photos; photos of Elicia!"

-A-D-

 _Arendelle_

A sudden pang flared beneath Roxas' right eyebrow, as if telling him that there was a dissenter amongst the masses.

"What's wrong?"

Eugene had caught on to the irritated look crossing Roxas' face. "I need to get home and make a thousand pictures of Iroviel being cute," Roxas growled, hefting his axe. "Somebody out there is challenging me."

Eugene winced at the sound and sight of the piece of wood splitting beneath Roxas' swing, the axe even cutting right through a thick knot as if it weren't even there. Roxas put up one half of what he'd just split, and split it neatly in two with another single swing. "I guess I just don't understand," Eugene admitted, bending down to pick up the two neat quarter pieces of firewood while Roxas set up more on the block.

"You might," the blond said, rearing back for another swing, "once you and Rapunzel have a daughter, but she'll never be as cute as mine." He swung the axe down again, creating more bits of firewood for Eugene to pick up.

They chopped wood for overan hour, swapping the axe back and forth as firewood was loaded up onto a horse-drawn cart between both them and a number of other woodcutters. Roxas felt his muscles warming up nicely from the exertion as a nice, easy workout. Swinging an axe overhead with both arms was definitely working more muscle groups than when he stood at the anvil working on a piece of metal. It was simple, monotonous, and repetitive work that kept him busy physically while his mind wandered as opposed to being idle in both. No matter where they started, his thoughts veered irrevocably towards three people: Naminé, Shina, and Iroviel, and wondering and worrying for all three as to what they were presently occupied with and how they were doing. Hopefully Naminé had managed to help Anna find her wayward sister and was on her way back with a solution to this sudden winter that the kingdom was woefully unprepared for. At this point his wife and daughter should be getting settled into a room aboard the _Starlight_ for when they headed out to fight Maleficent's forces on the front lines, and there was probably all sorts of trouble that Iroviel was getting herself into with everything associated with that.

 _I hope she doesn't hurt herself too badly,_ Roxas thought, knowing that it'd be strange if she did not end up with some kind of minor injury.

Laden with piles of firewood, the cart began the trip back to the city accompanied by the strapping men who'd volunteered to put their arms and backs to use. Despite the cold as it continued to lightly snow, Roxas was actually okay with the situation. Naminé would likely be back soon with the queen and everything here would return to normal. Then he and the others would leave, and get right on back to risking their necks fighting Heartless and making the worlds a more peaceful place.

"Monster! Look out!"

Or he could get right back to protecting that peace right now.

Roxas turned at the shout and saw a white horse scream as it raced past him, the woodcutters, and the cart. Behind the horse, approaching them at high speed and roaring intimidatingly was what appeared to be a dragon made entirely of snow and ice. For just the briefest of moments, Roxas thought that perhaps Naminé had gone a little overzealous with one of her creations and it was running loose, but then it swooped above a tree to avoid a collision and Roxas saw the Heartless emblem on its chest. No doubt about it: this was not his love's doing.

"M-monster!"

"Run!"

People shouted in panic as the Ice Dragon alighted on a tall pine tree, bending the crown precipitously. It roared again and looked down on them all with malevolence in its yellow eyes. The cart took off haphazardly after the white horse, but Roxas stood his ground, smirking. Sure, it had the shape of a dragon, but it was even smaller than Ixenmiirik was, and he was far stronger now than he was then.

"Roxas, we have to go!" Eugene shouted, grapping him by the shoulder and trying to pull him back. Roxas half-turned towards him.

"You're right. You go, and I'll stay here and finish it off!" Roxas broke free of Eugene's grip like it was nothing, and pulled his Keyblade out from its sheath at his hip. Ignoring Eugene's panicked exclamation, Roxas didn't even think to summon his armour as he dashed towards the Ice Dragon on the tree. Upon seeing Twilight Thorn in his hand, the dragon roared again and pounced from the treetop, cracking the crown under the force of the blow and snapping the top quarter of the pine in a shower of splintered frozen wood. It opened its mouth and unleashed a torrent of frigid cold at Roxas. His breath hitched for a moment and his warm winter clothes became even more frosted over. His blond ice-laden beard looked more like Santa's by the second, but Roxas ran straight through and slashed his weapon at the Heartless' frozen underbelly as they blew past one another.

Roxas rolled through the snow to get underneath its snapping tail and turned around. The Heartless was just barely bigger than a draft horse– even including its tail – and its icicle claws crunched the snow beneath it as it turned around to face Roxas again on the ground, but Roxas was quicker. Before it could finish turning or take flight again he was already on it, slashing once at its back left leg, nearly severing it, before jumping onto its back. It was predictably cold on top of it, but it was also the best place he could be in order to harm his foe without being subject to its own attacks. The Ice Dragon tried to dislodge him, using a great flaps of its wings to suddenly accelerate into a run. He managed to stay seated by grabbing a wing joint with his left hand and stabbing Twilight Thorn into its back with his right. The Ice Dragon thrashed wilder at the wound the hated Keyblade had inflicted upon it. Roxas, desperate to hold on or kill it, channeled some magic into his blade with a shout of "Firaga!"

A burst of flame shot down the weapon and into the Heartless, causing it to shriek in pain and thrash even wilder. It deliberately bucked into a tree; Roxas felt some of his breath leave his lungs as the impact struck his back. "Firaga!" he shouted again, sending another blast of fire magic into it. "Firaga! Firaga! Firaga!" Each blast caused little bits of ice to shatter off its body, more and more with each consecutive firing of the spell, until on the final one the Ice Dragon's body shattered and turned into black wisps, leaving behind its heart which gently rose into the sky. "Piece of cake." Roxas stood up, dusted himself off, and looked around. Eugene was looking at him with eyes wide open. "What?" Roxas asked, amused. "You knew I was a knight, right?"

"Not a knight like that," he answered, gesturing. "I've seen some magic before. _That's_ some crazy magic you're using."

"No, the _crazy_ magic is what Elsa did to cause this winter," Roxas replied. "I'm nowhere near good enough at that kind of thing to even guess at her powers; that's Naminé's specialty and that's likely why she went along with the princess."

"Yeah, about her," Eugene brought up. "That horse… didn't it look an awful lot like the one Princess Anna left on?"

"You noticed it too?"Roxas queried. Eugene nodded. "Then something may have happened to them. Let's hurry back."

"Agreed."

When they returned to the town square in front of the bridge to the castle, a crowd had already formed around Anna's horse. Prince Hans was standing nearby, rallying volunteers to join him on an expedition to find the missing princess. Word seemed to be quickly spreading around, and Roxas saw Agatha and Naminé's two royal guards –Jenkins and Namis – rushing forward. He waved over to them, but for once it took a bit of time for them to notice his presence, due to how prevalent blond hair was in Arendelle and how frosted over he'd become thanks to his tussle with the Ice Dragon. He'd basically gotten within three metres before they even recognized that he was approaching them.

"Sir Roxas," Agatha said. "They're saying that Princess Anna's horse came back without the princess. Do you know if Naminé came back by herself?"

"No, I didn't see her," Roxas said. "Even worse, following the horse was a Heartless. We're going to have trouble."

"Heartless?" Eugene asked. Roxas turned around.

"Sorry, didn't realize you were still there. That monster that attacked. It's called a Heartless. All you need to know is that it's a kind of creature we've dealt with before." Eugene did not seem very reassured at the moment, but that was not Roxas' number one concern.

"I volunteer two men, my lord," offered the Duke of Weselton in a loud enough voice that it carried over. Roxas quickly glanced around amongst his party. If the duke was sending men along on the mission, then either he was turning over a new leaf after bickering for the past several days about the way Hans was handling the situation and was actually being constructive for a change…

…or he was adopting a new solution.

"Namis, Jenkins, with me," he said, and quickly turned to head towards Hans. Nodding their heads, the two guards followed Roxas at a quick pace as he approached the prince.

"Prince Hans," Roxas stated upon reaching him, "please allow me and Queen Naminé's guards to assist you. If Princess Anna is missing, then so is Naminé." Hans looked at the three of them and nodded his head.

"Very well, sir Roxas. Prepare yourselves as best as you can. We leave in thirty minutes."

Roxas nodded his head and turned back to the two women behind him. "Do you have your gear on you?"

"Just our weapons," Namis replied. "Our armour is back at the guest house."

"It's pretty impractical in the cold," Jenkins added.

"I'll see what I can do about that," Roxas told them. "Let's get ready." Roxas jogged off towards the castle with the guards following him a pace behind on either side of him and Agatha trailing them. Their delegation had been moved from the guest house to inside the castle, as Prince Hans had left it open indefinitely and their party's stature was deemed to warrant such accommodations.

Arriving in the apartment assigned to the two members of the 8th Royal Guards Regiment, Roxas noted that it was neat and orderly as expected. He wasn't _trying_ to inspect their temporary barracks, but he couldn't help but nod at them in approval. The bunk inspections he and the others had endured in the Proving Grounds were difficult memories to forget. The two females quickly retrieved their armour from the stands they had been placed on and Roxas thoughtfully looked them over.

"Well now, this is interesting. A kingsweave steel byrnie, a cuirass, a fauld, gauntlets, vambraces, greaves, and a close helm. You're a number of pieces shy of a full plate armour suit here, _and_ you've got a byrnie too, and its sleeves are a bit longer than normal. I guess that's to protect the shoulders and upper arms. Is this a stylistic choice of Kairi and Naminé's?"

"Not entirely," Namis replied with a bit of a grimace. "According to the captain, the queen and princess want us to be almost as well protected as they are in their full Keyblade regalia and—"

"Regalia?" Roxas asked, frowning slightly.

"It's what we've taken to calling it, sir, since your full armours look really fancy," Jenkins answered him, to which Roxas nodded.

"Anyway," Namis continued. "They essentially _want_ us to be in a full suit of plate armour, but it takes time to make full sets from scratch. In addition, princess Kairi wants to have all of our armour enchanted to provide some magical protection as well and to make it feel lighter than it is. Right now this mesh of pieces from the castle armoury is something of a stopgap until such time as everyone in the regiment can get their armour custom-made."

With a sudden dart of realization to his forehead Roxas knew that he was likely going to be the one making all of the armour Naminé and Kairi wanted for everyone, and nobody had approached him yet to request it of him. It was a good thing that Naminé had managed to get that portal to Olomund working and that time was passing at the same rate between their dimensions, because he was sure that he was going to need help to get this done.

Roxas placed a hand on his chin and idly stroked at his short goatee of soft yellow hairs. Were they just going to ask for conventional metals from him for the 8th Royal Guards, or were they going to request something more outrageous like orichalcum or one of the alloy's derivative metals like solarium, starsilver, or zeutite? If they did, and Kairi also wanted to personally enchant all of the armour, then this was going to be an _expensive_ , long-ass, pain in the butt order to fill, even though right now it was only for about twenty people. Presumably the regiment would grow in size and this process would need to be repeated for each new inductee.

"Sir Roxas?"

He blinked and rapidly looked up at the two women in their early twenties. "Sorry, I was lost in thought. Was just thinking about how much work is piling up on me that I probably won't have much time to spare out on the battlefield. Anyway, you're right about the fact that it's somewhat impractical in the cold. All of this metal is going to get down to freezing. If it was made of solarium you wouldn't have to worry about that, but it's just a normal set of armour. Even with the padding you'll be wearing underneath the byrnie, it's not like the cuirass is airtight, so some cold would still make it through the cracks to get through the mail and padding, and it's not like that helps your heads, arms, or legs much anyway." Roxas turned and strode to the door to the hallway. He looked outside, but wasn't quite able to see the gathering in the square outside the castle's walls. "If I remember right, the men of Arendelle's guard volunteering to go with Prince Hans were wearing coats and hats; none of them seem like they would be wearing metal armour. On the other hand, it would shame Radiant Garden if the 8th Royal Guards abandoned their uniforms on a mission to protect the Queen."

Roxas returned to the apartment the two guards were staying in. "My magic's not the strongest of the group, so even though I _can_ cast a spell that will give you a resistance to cold, it'll only last for an hour or so. Fortunately, I've got a couple of amulets on hand that'll do the job just as well, but will work as long as you're wearing them. It'll be our little secret that you're not freezing your tits off in that weather out there while all dressed up in metal. There's no need to get frostbite just to prove that you're tougher soldiers than them." He winked, and the two women shared conspiratorial grins with him as he handed them the amulets from his bag of holding before he excused himself so that they could get changed.

Twenty minutes later they were in the square with Hans' volunteer expeditionary force, equipped in full armour and ready to roll. Roxas was wearing his Keyblade Regalia, as the guards called it, his own form-fitting seamless orichalcum armour evolved from its meagre beginnings as a set of vambraces, greaves and a mail shirt into a brilliant suit of magic armour that gleamed like burnished bronze and polished obsidian in the light. He had been torn between wearing the cape of knighthood he had been given by King Mickey and the cloak he had as a member of the Fearless Wolves, but ultimately settled with what King Mickey had bestowed upon him, arrayed with the royal purple garment and the gold mouse head on its back. Twilight Thorn rested in his own holy sheath belted to his left hip, another magiclongsword on his right, and a backup dagger sheathed beneath his Keyblade. Namis and Jenkins were in the armour that they had just shown Roxas, amulets to resist the cold being worn underneath, while carrying seven-foot spears in-hand with arming swords sheathed on their hips. Their red cloaks were wrapped around their shoulders, hoods left down, with their round shields and guige strap overtop.

Hans and the volunteers seemed unnerved at the sight of the three warriors, dressed in heavy metal armour in contrast to the thick wool overcoats and hats that they were wearing. Hans himself only looked to have a knightly sword, while the six Arendelle guards each carried a javelin and a sword and the two men Duke Weselton volunteered were armed with light crossbows.

"Are you sure that that's completely necessary, Sir Roxas?" Hans asked Roxas, eyeing the three of them uneasily.

"If there's something capable of giving Queen Naminé trouble, then yes, Your Highness, I would say that this is necessary," Roxas replied. Hans looked at him a bit dubiously for a few seconds, but nodded his head eventually.

"Very well. You're clearly very experienced, sir, so you don't mind if we leave the heavy lifting to you three do you?"

"It would be our honour," Roxas replied respectfully before he, Namis, and Jenkins mounted up on the horses they were all going to be riding on. "Do you know where our planned destination is, Prince Hans?"

"Refugees coming in from the countryside have consistently said that this weather seems to be coming in from the North Mountain," Hans told the group. "My bet is that the queen is there, and that Princess Anna headed in that direction. Who here knows the best way to the North Mountain?"

"I do, Your Highness," volunteered one of the men.

"Good man. Lead the way." The man who spoke brought his horse to the front and took him into a gallop, the rest of the group quickly following. Roxas and the two Royal Guards looked down at Agatha, Eugene, and Rapunzel.

"We'll be back soon," he said, "and Naminé will be with us!"

-A-D-

 _2110hrs,_

 _Same day_

 _North Mountain, Arendelle_

It was a long day. Nearly twelve hours of hard trudging through the snow, interspersed with about five encounters with packs of Heartless that were now roaming the countryside. Hans and Arendelle's soldiers were brave in the face of this new adversity, but the brunt of the extermination work fell upon Roxas and Naminé's two guards. Still fresh from the fighting in Radiant Garden, even the appearance of these new breeds of Heartless – resembling ice dragons, snowmen, wolves, and reindeer – wasn't enough to faze them as they fought off the Heartless without mercy. The men talked. Monsters like these had never appeared before, and with all the strangeness about with Queen Elsa, they began to suspect that she might be the cause of them. Roxas didn't stop them speculating. He didn't know Elsa well enough to outright deny that she would fall to darkness and control the Heartless. Besides, Naminé still hadn't returned, so if there were Heartless around, it's possible that she got caught up in fighting them.

Roxas also didn't stop some of the soldiers from removing their coats. He was quite tickled by the guards, trying to act tough and strong in front of Namis and Jenkins as if they were impervious to the cold. One even went bare-chested, but a sudden gust of wind made it painfully obvious that he was suffering from the cold, and Hans ordered them all to put their clothes back on.

Finally, however, their day of travel was worth it. As the sun was starting to head towards the horizon from their position near the summit of the North Mountain, they stood before a gorge that was spanned by a beautiful ice bridge, leading up to a pristine, elegant, palatial castle made of ice.

"This is definitely the place," Roxas said, looking around. "It looks like there are recent signs of activity around here, with all the scuffing and shuffling of the snow." He wrinkled his nose. "And I can still smell Melbil's boar. If they made it here, it was recently."

"Everyone, be on your guard," Hans told them all. "We are here to find Princess Anna and Queen Naminé. No harm is to come to Queen Elsa." Hans dismounted and looked sternly at everyone assembled. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, my prince," chorused some of the Arendelle soldiers, while Roxas, Namis, and Jenkins nodded their heads in compliance. The Duke of Weselton's men, Roxas noted, were disturbingly silent. Hans started to approach the bridge, but he had barely moved several paces towards it when a large snow drift near it suddenly raised a head and stood up on two legs, roaring at him.

Hans' horse bolted while the prince drew his sword, staring anxiously up at the giant snow golem that threatened him. Roxas quickly dismounted and gave it a look-over. "Well, this certainly looks more like something Naminé could do, or Elsa, I guess."

"Your Highness!" shouted some of Arendelle's guards, throwing their spears at the snow golem while the duke's men fired their crossbows. Namis and Jenkins formed up behind Roxas.

"Your orders, sir?"

"We handled the Heartless," Roxas said, "so we can probably let them handle this, but I've got an idea I want to try first. You two stay here and keep an eye on things." The golem's body grew fiercer, giant icicles growing out of its back and upper arms, and it swung its arm out, striking the Duke of Weselton's men back so that they slammed into the stone behind them. Roxas rushed forward, not even drawing his weapons as he ducked underneath the golem and approached the bridge. It seemed more concerned with Hans and the sword the prince was carrying than it was with him, someone who was unarmed.

"Roxas?"

He turned, hearing his name being called, and saw the front doors of the castle open. Out from it strode Naminé, dressed up in her blue robes and her floppy, pointy blue hat, carrying her staff in one hand with her Keyblade sheathed on her hip. Behind her he could see Queen Elsa also exiting the building, in a stunning blue dress with the tiara of her office resting upon her head. Even though he had been confident that Naminé was fine, relief still washed over him in those first few seconds upon seeing her safe and sound. "Naminé! Queen Elsa."

"What are you doing here?" Naminé asked, moving quickly but casually towards the ice bridge. She was acting as though there _wasn't_ a giant snow monster fighting only a few metres behind Roxas.

"Well, Princess Anna's horse returned to Arendelle this morning without her on it, so we got worried and came looking."

"You got here in _one_ day?" Naminé asked, seemingly frustrated. "Damn. When next I see Melbil, I need to tell her that we need to roast that boar she is so fond of."

"Marshmallow, stop," Elsa commanded, standing beside Naminé at the top of the ice bridge. The hulking snowman, covered in sharp icicles, looked back at Elsa for a moment before backing away, his fierce appearance melding back into his snowy body. Those left on the other side of the gorge looked up at the two queens, standing side-by-side in different blues, who were in turn looking down at the search party.

"Your Majesties!" Prince Hans said.

"Prince Hans," Elsa greeted, sounding fairly cordial. "This is unexpected. I did not think I would be seeing you until I had returned to Arendelle."

"Queen Elsa, Princess Anna has not returned to Arendelle. Do you know where she is?"

Elsa looked down upon hearing that. "I do not. I told Anna to leave here only a little while ago, when she arrived alongside Queen Naminé. The snow creature you see before her sent her away, while her majesty forcibly stayed behind to have a… conversation with me. She reminded me of my duty, and if it is within my power, I will join you on your search for my missing sister and end this winter."

"You'll end it now!"

The Duke of Weselton's men shifted the aim of their crossbows from the snow monster to Elsa and fired from the prone position. Roxas saw Namis and Jenkins leap towards them at the sound of the shout, too slow to prevent them from firing their crossbows or changing their aim. Their spears plunged into the two obviously hostile men, easily cutting through the fabric of their coats and clothes and spilling steaming red blood onto the white snow.

"Shit…! Too slow…"

Roxas whirled back around, eyes dwindling into pinpricks as blue robes turned purple around two crossbow bolts, and the figure wearing them crumpled to the ground.

"Naminé!"

-A-D-

 _ **May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

 _Shire Folk_


End file.
